An Illustrated History of Health and Fitness, from Pre-History to our Post-Modern World

• Main Author: Shephard, Roy J. (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, 2015.
• Series: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 39
• Subjects: History.; Health promotion.; Sports medicine.; Medicine > History.; Sports sciences.; History of Science.; History of Medicine.; Sport Science.; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.; Sports Medicine.

This book examines the health/fitness interaction in an historical context. Beginning in primitive hunter-gatherer communities, where survival required adequate physical activity, it goes on to consider changes in health and physical activity at subsequent stages in the evolution of “civilization.”...

Table of Contents:

• Chapter 1: Health and Fitness in Prehistory, Including Inferences from the Current Lifestyle of Indigenous Populations
• Chapter 2: Examples of Early City Life from Ancient Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Israel, India and China: Health as a Gift of the Gods
• Chapter 3: Legacies of the Classical Era: Minoa, Greece and Rome; a Recognition of Material Causes of Poor Health and Fitness
• Chapter 4: The Middle Ages: Monasteries, Medical Schools and the Dawn of State Health Care
• Chapter 5: The Renaissance: The Dawn of Scientific Enquiry into Health and Fitness
• Chapter 6: The Enlightenment: The Impact of Reason and Religion upon Health and Fitness in a Period of Urban Growth and Industrialization
• Chapter 7: The Victorian Era: The Birth of Scientific Societies and Blossoming of Public Health
• Chapter 8: The Modern Era: Blossoming of the Olympic Movement and the Conquest of Acute Disease
• Chapter 9: The Post-Modern Era: Chronic Disease and the Onslaught upon a Sedentary Lifestyle
• Chapter 10: Future Directions in Health and Fitness.