Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America

"This book is a historical consideration of how poor posture became a dreaded pathology in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.

It opens with the "outbreak" of the poor posture epidemic, which began with turn-of-the-century paleoanthropologists: If upright posture was the first of all attributes that separated human from beasts - and importantly a precondition for the development of intellect and speech - what did it mean that a majority of Americans slouched?

By World War I, public health officials claimed that 80% of Americans suffered from postural abnormalities.

Panic spread, setting into motion initiatives intended to stem the slouching epidemic, as schoolteachers, shoe companies, clothing manufacturers, public health officials, medical professionals, and the popular press exhorted the public toward detection.

Wellness programs stigmatized disability while also encouraging the belief that health and ableness coul