Discussing a wide range of cases, from NCAA regulations of student athletes to the O.J. Simpson trial, the author argues that Americans' litigiousness and overconfidence in reason are destroying the legal system

A provocative exposé of America's self-defeating war on obesity challenges conventional wisdom regarding the cultural, medical, and political meaning of weight, arguing against the myth that falsely equates thinness with health and explaining why dieting is bad for the health, how the media misinform the public, and the link between racial and body-based prejudice. 35,000 first printing.