Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Health Reform

by Engs, Ruth C.

• ISBN13: 9780275959944
• ISBN10: 0275959945
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-04-01
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

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 After the dissipation of the activism phase, laws made during the reform era often became ignored or repealed.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.

Author Biography

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).

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Clean Living Movements: An Overview	1	(20)
PART I The First Clean Living Movement, 1830-1860	21	(80)
Millennialism, New Religions, and Health Reform	23	(12)
Temperance, Tobacco, and Women's Rights	35	(18)
Christian Physiology, Diet, and Sexuality	53	(14)
Inherited Realities, Phrenology, and Groups with Quasi-Eugenic Undercurrents	67	(16)
Nativism, Cholera, Public Health, and Cures	83	(18)
PART II The Second Clean Living Movement, 1880-1920	101	(78)
Religious Zeal, Physical Culture, and Diet	103	(16)
Saloons, Suffrage, and Smoking	119	(18)
Eugenics, Purity, and Birth Control	137	(14)
Pure Food and Drugs and the Elimination of ``Dope''	151	(14)
Tuberculosis, Public Health, and Influenza	165	(14)
PART III The Third Clean Living Movement, 1970-2005	179	(88)
Religious Awakening, New Age Religions, and Wellness	183	(19)
Drunk Driving, Smoke-Free Environments, and the ``War against Drugs''	202	(21)
Women's Lib, Neo-Purity, and AIDS	223	(24)
Fitness, Health, and the New Eugenics	247	(20)
Epilogue	267	(2)
References and Bibliography	269	(36)
Index	305