“Gilman opens a valuable conversation about the cultural history of obesity that examines how we have come to understand—and misunderstand—the condition.”—New York Times Book Review “Forcefully written and very well timed. . . . Entertaining.”—Elaine Showalter, Times Literary Supplement “Gilman uncovers the surprising complexity associated with fat men in a clear and succinct manner.”—Library Journal “This amusing historical and literary ... Read morereview ranges widely, covering subjects such as Santa Claus, the Nutty Professor, and gastric bypass surgery.”—Choice “A welcome survey of representations of male obesity in western culture. Historian Sander Gilman uses character studies of what he terms ‘fat boys’ from antiquity to the present, to ‘negotiate the complexities of defining the healthy and the ill.’”—Carolyn Thomas de la Peña, American Studies Show Less