Governing Bodies

"Moran not only makes a critical and creative contribution to her field; she also illustrates the great potential of the historical monograph. Both capacious and incisive, Moran has dug deep and wide in the archives to document her overarching claim that 'most government projects designed to shape American bodies were part of . . . the advisory state'...Given how much Moran has accomplished, scholars are now well equipped to delve even further into the complex and profoundly important role of the advisory state."—American Historical Review

"Moran’s work is important reading for scholars of the subtle American state. Within a field that has grown increasingly attentive to the workings of the state despite its efforts to conceal its tracks, Moran’s attention to the importance of gender in facilitating the invisibility of the state’s activities is particularly compelling. Gender, along with race and class, provides similar explanatory power in showing, however, that for many Americans the state’s efforts to shape the body were experienced coercively. Moran’s work offers the important reminder that the distinction between the state’s nature as advisory or coercive is one that is often experienced along axes of difference and power."—Western Historical Quarterly

"Governing Bodies is an important and valuable addition to the landscape of histories about fitness and the body. Moran’s work is a valuable examination of 'why the federal government cares about weight and muscles and the mechanisms through which it regulates them' and it is essential reading for the field."—Journal of Social History

"Deeply researched and engagingly written, Governing Bodies offers a nuanced and provocative account of the role of the U.S. government in managing the physical fitness of its citizens. Rachel Louise Moran provides a new perspective on American political history and state development."—Marisa Chappell, Oregon State University

"Governing Bodies offers an authoritative and compelling account of the century-long effort to ensure that America's citizenry was physically fit. Tracing the story from the evolution of the calorimeter to warnings that Americans were a 'Nation of Weaklings' during the Cold War to WIC in the 1970s, Moran pays careful attention to the intersection of state, society, and political culture that framed this set of public policies. For much of the twentieth century, Americans were enticed, rather than coerced, into shaping up."—Brian Balogh, University of Virginia