Body, Society, and Nation tells the story of China’s unfolding modernity by exploring the changing ideas, practices, and systems related to health and body in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Shanghai. The pursuit of good health loomed large in Chinese political, social, and economic life. Yet, “good health” had a range of associations beyond individual well-being. It was also an integral part of Chinese nation-building, a goal of charitable activities, a notable outcome of Western medical science, a marker of modern civilization, and a commercial catchphrase. With the advent of Western powers, Chinese notions about personal hygiene and the body gradually expanded. This transformation was complicated by indigenous medical ideas, preexisting institutions and social groups, and local cultures and customs.

This study explores the many ways that members of the various strata of Shanghai society experienced and understood multiple meanings of health and body within their everyday lives. Chieko Nakajima traces the institutions they established, the regulations they implemented, and the practices they brought to the city as part of efforts to promote health. In doing so, she explains how local practices and customs fashioned and constrained public health and, in turn, how hygienic modernity helped shape and develop local cultures and influenced people’s behavior.

Poor health habits (drinking, smoking, lack of exercise) obviously take their toll on individuals and their families. The costs to society are less obvious but certainly more far-reaching. This investigation is the first to quantify the financial burden these detrimental habits place on American taxpayers. Willard Manning and his colleagues measure the direct costs of poor health habits (fire damage, motor vehicle accidents, legal fees), as well as collectively financed costs (medical care, employee sick leave, group health and life insurance, nursing home care, retirement pensions, liability insurance). Consider two co-workers covered by their employer's health plan: both pay the same premium, yet if one drinks heavily, the other--through their mutual insurance program--involuntarily funds the resulting health problems.

After laying out their conceptual framework, methods, and analytical approach, the authors describe precisely how and to what extent drinking, smoking, and lack of exercise are currently subsidized, and make recommendations for reducing or reallocating the expense. They present, for example, a persuasive case for raising excise taxes on alcohol. The authors correlate their data to make costs comparable, to avoid double counting, and to determine the exact costs of each of these poor health habits and some of their findings are quite surprising.

This unique study will be indispensable to public health policy specialists and researchers, as well as to health economists.

We see the stories in the newspaper nearly every day: a drug hailed as a breakthrough treatment turns out to cause harmful side effects; controls implemented to reduce air pollution are shown to generate hazardous solid waste; bans on dangerous chemicals result in the introduction of even more risky substitutes. Could our efforts to protect our health and the environment actually be making things worse? In Risk versus Risk, John D. Graham, Jonathan Baert Wiener, and their colleagues at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis marshal an impressive set of case studies which demonstrate that all too often our nation's campaign to reduce risks to our health and the environment is at war with itself.

Your doctor is the second most important person taking care of your health. You're the first. This book was written so that you can do a better job, without going to medical school. It is designed to help you sort out the vital health information you need--what to consider, what to ignore, what to worry about, what to forget.

Deciding how to take care of a pain, an injury, a fever--and whether to call in expert advice--is not always an easy task. Knowing how to prevent disease can be even harder: Will I really live longer and feel better if I cut down on dietary fat, or alcohol, or overwork? The main focus of this book is on prevention: habits you can modify, choices you can make in daily life. Good choices do make a difference. The life expectancy of American adults has been increasing, and it is quite clear that professional medical care is not the only reason people are living longer.

But when you do call in the professionals, this book will guide you in asking the right questions about your diagnosis and treatment. When medical decisions must be made, you can be an active partner in making them.

The doctors who wrote this book have made some fundamental assumptions about their readers: they are people who want to make their own choices about their health, based on the best possible evidence; they want straightforward information unencumbered with excessive detail; when they talk with their physician, they want to ask intelligent questions and understand the answers; they want to live a long life, but also enjoy it along the way; and they want to see "the big picture"--how their personal health is affected by environmental and social forces.