Clean Living Movements - (American Cycles of Health Reform) by Ruth Clifford Engs (Paperback)

About the Book

Over the past 200 years, a health reform movement has emerged about every 80 years. These clean living cycles surged with, or were tangential to, a religious awakening. Simultaneously with these awakenings, out groups such as immigrants and/or youth were seen to exhibit behaviors that undermined society. Middle class fear of these dangerous classes and a desire to eliminate disease, crime, and other perceived health or social problems led to crusades in each of the three reform eras against alcohol, tobacco, drugs, certain foods, and sexual behaviors. A backlash began to emerge from some segments of the population against reform efforts. After the dissipation of the activism phase, laws made during the reform era often became ignored or repealed. With a few exceptions, during the 30 to 40 year ebb of the cycle, the memory of the movement disappeared from public awareness.

The desire for improved health and social conditions also led to campaigns in favor of exercise, semi-vegetarian diets, women's rights, chastity, and eugenics. Engs describes the interweaving of temperance, women's rights, or religion with most health issues. Factions of established faiths emerged to fight perceived immorality, while alternative religions formed and adopted health reform as dogma. In the reform phase of each cycle, a new infectious disease threatened the population. Some alternative medical practices became popular that later were incorporated into orthodox medicine and public health. Ironically, over each succeeding movement, reformers became more likely to represent grass roots beliefs, or even to be state or federal officials, rather than independent activists.

Book Synopsis

Over the past 200 years, a health reform movement has emerged about every 80 years. These clean living cycles surged with, or were tangential to, a religious awakening. Simultaneously with these awakenings, out groups such as immigrants and/or youth were seen to exhibit behaviors that undermined society. Middle class fear of these dangerous classes and a desire to eliminate disease, crime, and other perceived health or social problems led to crusades in each of the three reform eras against alcohol, tobacco, drugs, certain foods, and sexual behaviors. A backlash began to emerge from some segments of the population against reform efforts. After the dissipation of the activism phase, laws made during the reform era often became ignored or repealed. With a few exceptions, during the 30 to 40 year ebb of the cycle, the memory of the movement disappeared from public awareness.

The desire for improved health and social conditions also led to campaigns in favor of exercise, semi-vegetarian diets, women's rights, chastity, and eugenics. Engs describes the interweaving of temperance, women's rights, or religion with most health issues. Factions of established faiths emerged to fight perceived immorality, while alternative religions formed and adopted health reform as dogma. In the reform phase of each cycle, a new infectious disease threatened the population. Some alternative medical practices became popular that later were incorporated into orthodox medicine and public health. Ironically, over each succeeding movement, reformers became more likely to represent grass roots beliefs, or even to be state or federal officials, rather than independent activists.

Review Quotes

"In this provocative exploration of 'clean living movements' in the United States, Dr. Engs has focused on the historical development of efforts to promote healthier behaviors among the American Public....For anyone interested in health behaviors, the book provides substantial information about efforts to improve health practices since the early nineteenth century and should be a valuable resource for a variety of health related professions."-Mary L. Remley Professor Emeritus School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation Indiana University

"Ruth Engs challenges everyone interested in health and health education with a historical perspective that clarifies the controversial issues of control and freedom involved in questions of seeking soundness of the body."-John C. Burnham Professor of History and Psychiatry The Ohio State University

?Dr. Engs shows how Americans' fervor for self-improvement occurs in spurts....So far, Dr. Engs says, Americans have experienced three so-called clean-living movements. Each one involved campaigns against tobacco, alcohol, and premarital sex. Dr. Engs tracks the cultural forces that prompt each movement and those that set off each rebellion against health, and the story is told in an appealing way for mass audiences....Whether a reader goes along with her theory, the book is chock full of amusing anecdotes and brief biographies of those she calls health fanatics....Her prediction: the nation will lose interest in preventative health by 2005. And no matter what public health messages bombard today's children and despite an onslaught of new medical findings, health enthusiasm, like other trends, comes and goes. In other words, today's baby boomers may be training for triathalons but their children will grow to prefer martinis and cigarettes.?-New York Times

?Ruth Engs' approach is a fascinating one and puts many of the current issues we are facing in perspective.?-AIM

"Ruth Engs' approach is a fascinating one and puts many of the current issues we are facing in perspective."-AIM

"Dr. Engs shows how Americans' fervor for self-improvement occurs in spurts....So far, Dr. Engs says, Americans have experienced three so-called clean-living movements. Each one involved campaigns against tobacco, alcohol, and premarital sex. Dr. Engs tracks the cultural forces that prompt each movement and those that set off each rebellion against health, and the story is told in an appealing way for mass audiences....Whether a reader goes along with her theory, the book is chock full of amusing anecdotes and brief biographies of those she calls health fanatics....Her prediction: the nation will lose interest in preventative health by 2005. And no matter what public health messages bombard today's children and despite an onslaught of new medical findings, health enthusiasm, like other trends, comes and goes. In other words, today's baby boomers may be training for triathalons but their children will grow to prefer martinis and cigarettes."-New York Times

About the Author

RUTH CLIFFORD ENGS is Professor of Applied Health Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. Dr. Engs has published numerous articles and book chapters and is the editor of several works including Controversies in the Addiction Field (1990), Women: Alcohol and Other Drugs (1989), and author of Alcohol and Other Drugs: Self Responsibility (1987).