The Imperative of Health: Public Health and the Regulated Body - Softcover

`This consideration of public health and health promotion is worth a read - certainly it is a valuable complement to the more established texts critiquing the practices of clinical medicine. The book considers many practices which are familiar features of everyday life, and I think it will be enjoyed by any reader with a general interest in health and society' - Public Understanding of Science

`Anyone in the public health industry who wants to stand back and ask fundamental questions about what they are doing and the way they are directly or indirectly affecting people at the personal level should read this book' - European Journal of Public Health

`A fine scholarly work that brings together some very interesting and thought-provoking analyses. The books strengths, namely its scholarly approach and critical thinking, well serve its audience of academics and students' - Doody's Health Science Book Review Journal

`A good history of public health developments, primarily in Australia and England, the book is a continuation of debate among health education profession over the status of any or all health education "truths"' - Choice

`An important contribution to the educational critique of public health programs' - Social History of Medicine

In this reappraisal of public health and health promotion in contemporary societies, Deborah Lupton explores public health and health promotion using contemporary sociocultural and political theory, particularly that building on Foucault's writings on subjectivity, embodiment and power relations. The author examines the implications of the new social theories for the study of health promotion and health communication to analyze the symbolic nature of public health practices, and explores their underlying meanings and assumptions.