Fat Rights Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood

In her timely and unique study, Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Differance and Personhood, Kirkland places fatness and fat citizens into the frame of the American civil rights tradition. In doing so she provides an important contribution to political and legal debates about rights for fat individuals, the nature of difference, and the role and utility of antidiscrimination law in the United States. - Darlene McNaughton (American Journal of Sociology) "Discrimination against the obese is today pervasive and oppressive. The problem will only grow worse as the epidemic of obesity spreads. Kirkland has written the definitive study of obesity within American law. It is required reading for anyone concerned with this issue. This is an admirable and profound book. - Robert Post,Yale Law School "Provides a much-needed conceptual map for making sense of how we in the U.S. talk about difference, discrimination, and rights generally. The result is an imaginative, insightful, savvy, and unusually accessible inquiry that should be required reading for anyone interested in the politics of civil rights. Highly recommended! - Michael McCann,University of Washington "Contributes to the scholarly discussion about the legal meaning of fatness. (Law and Politics Book Review)