About this item
The definitive story of allergies, combining history, reporting, and cutting-edge science to lay out a radical new understanding of the changes in environment and lifestyle that are contributing to a stunning increase in cases. Hay fever. Peanut allergies. Eczema. Either you have an allergy, or you know someone who does. Billions of people worldwide - an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the global population - have some form of allergy; millions have one severe enough to actively endanger their health. Even more concerningly, over the last decade, the number of people diagnosed with allergy has been steadily increasing, an ever-growing medical burden on individuals, families, communities, and health care systems. . Medical anthropologist Theresa MacPhail, herself an allergy sufferer whose father died of a bee sting, set out to understand why.
About the Author
I'm a medical anthropologist and writer, usually of nonfiction, mostly about topics in public health and medicine. I'm also an Associate Professor of Science & Technology Studies at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. My first book for Random House is out now (2023) . It's called and it tells the story of the global rise in allergies over the last 200 years. My next book, that I'm currently researching, is on aging. It dives into what happens to our bodies and minds as we age and why acceptance of aging (and our eventual deaths) is the key to "aging well. " Think of it like a "user's manual" to your aging body (with a lot of troubleshooting sections) . But, more importantly, it also traces out the long history of our fascination with aging and how and why aging transformed from a natural, normal, and healthy life experience into a medical problem or disease that needs to be "solved. " And what that approach to aging is doing to us collectively. (Spoiler: it's not terrific. ) To book me for a speaking engagement, please contact the Random House Speakers Bureau.
