306 pg, paper, ‘08

Here, collected for the first time, 19 writers describe their eating disorders from the distance of recovery, exposing as never before the anorexic's self-enclosed world. Taking up issues including depression, genetics, sexuality, sports, religion, fashion and family, these essays examine the role anorexia plays in a young person's search for direction. Powerful and immensely informative, this collection makes accessible the mindset of a disease that has long been misunderstood.

CONTENTS:

Hunger Striking- Maura Kelly
To Poison an Ideal- Ilana Kurshan
Daughters of the Diet Revolution- Jennifer Egan
On Thin Ice- Francine du Plessix Gray
Hungry Men- John Nolan
Black-and-White Thinking- Latria Graham
Education of the Poet- Louise Gluck
Big Little- Priscilla Baker
The Ghost of Gordolfo Gelatino- Rudy Ruiz
Earthly Imperfections- Lisa Halliday
Little Fish in a Big Sea- Sarah Haight
How the Faeries Caught Me- Francesca Lia Block
The Voice- Trisha Gura
Finding Home- Maya Browne
Shape-shifting- Amanda Fortini
Modeling School- Clara Elliot
Thirty Years Later, Still Watching the Scale- Joyce Maynard

REVIEWS:

“A remarkable book. To read these powerful and articulate life stories of anorexia is to gain a kind of new understanding into the conflict, disconnection, and seductiveness of this potentially lethal disease. The psychology of anorexia is difficult to comprehend but I felt at the end of reading this book that I had a much better, much more human grasp of what it’s like to live and struggle with the illness. The stories are deeply illuminating, in the fullest sense of the word.”
— Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind