About this item
A journalist takes readers into the science and history of intermittent fasting, an ancient practice in the middle of a red-hot resurgence, exploring the body's power to heal itself One in ten American adults tried intermittent fasting last year, and they may be on to something. The latest research shows that fasting repairs cellular damage, improves the outcomes for chemotherapy patients, and helps with keeping a healthy weight - leading to fasting's resurgence in recent years. Journalist Steve Hendricks's The Oldest Cure in the World tells the history of fasting - from the ancient world (Jesus treated an epileptic with fasting) to its rediscovery centuries later, thanks in part to a heartbroken doctor who resolved to starve himself to death only to find renewed vigor and become a media celebrity in the process.
About the Author
THE SHORT STORYSteve Hendricks is a freelance writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Helena, Montana. His first book, The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country, made several "best books of the year" lists in 2006.THE LONGER STORYSteve was born in Arkansas, raised in Texas, and educated at Yale. After college, he spent several years in Seattle and Montana, where he divided his time between writing about politics and doing politics. He twice ran for local office in Helena, Montana, and twice lost. (The first time was close; the second, not so close.) Since then, he has focused on writing.In 2007 Steve began work on A Kidnapping in Milan, a story of the CIA's kidnapping of the radical imam Abu Omar and of one Italian magistrate's struggle to put the CIA on trial. Steve says, "The barbarisms of America's 'War on Terror' appalled me, as did reporters who went along with the barbarisms. I was particularly taken aback by the Bush (and now Obama) claims that torture-by-proxy makes us stronger. I wrote A Kidnapping in Milan because few reporters have shown what torture really looked like, because the Italian magistrate who was prosecuting the CIA kidnappers was a charismatic figure, and because I wanted to see if he would succeed in his struggle against American lawlessness. Also, before the CIA kidnapped Abu Omar, the Italians seemed to have had him under thorough and fruitful surveillance, and the snatch seemed to have badly damaged Italy's work against terrorists. This case, in other words, looked like a good example of how the War on Terror made the West less safe. I was also intrigued because the victim was probably a terrorist, not an utter innocent, which added some shades of gray to a story that might otherwise have been more black and white. I wanted to see if I could make a convincing case that torture was wrong no matter who its victim was."Steve wrote The Unquiet Grave, his first book, because he was disturbed by the grim neglect that prevails in much of Indian Country. After reading Peter Matthiessen's monumental In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983), Steve wondered what had been uncovered about the struggle between the FBI and the American Indian Movement in the years since. The short answer: not much. He intended The Unquiet Grave to fill part of the void.Steve is married to Jennifer Hendricks, a professor of law at the University of Tennessee. She represented Steve in successful lawsuits against the FBI to release documents that formed the basis for The Unquiet Grave. The Hendrickses have a young son and an old dog.
