A Hunger So Wide and So Deep: American Women Speak Out on Eating Problems

Thompson's work is by no means over-generalized. Indeed, she is careful to base all of her statements on the rich, in-depth interviews she conducts with her participants. This book is especially important not only for women of color, but also for white women to read because it confirms our many-times-voiced argument that our eating problems are not about being thin: they are about surviving, about feeling scared, about wanting to disappear, but also to be recognized as "beautiful." Thompson's study is based on 18 case studies, yet her introduction provides a fabulous justification for such a small sample - how do you get a random sample of women with eating problems? There's no way to know what the POPULATION is. The new edition is subtitled: a multicultral view of women's eating problems. Pick it up! You won't regret it!

this is a fabulous book! it does much to unpack all the myths surrounding eating disorders, namely that they are a problem of rich, white, teenage women who are just overly vain. primarily it explores eating disorders in the context of race and class and as a reaction to sexual/physical/emotional abuse. rather than pathologizing the people who suffer from eating disorders, the author considers them as logical reactions to completely illogical, destructive situations. having heard all my life that my bizarre relationship with food exists because i'm crazy (rather than because i'm perfectly sane), this book did so much to assuage my guilt and shame and removed so much of the mystery that surrounded all of it. a truly transformative book .....