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Booklist Review

Gr. 6^-12. This collection of starkly personal essays, part of the At Issues series, provides perspective on anorexia as well as obsessive behavior in general. The first few selections contribute background on the illness, common symptoms, and possible causes. First-person accounts then take readers on some startling and intimate journeys. Perhaps most revealing are the words of Michael Krasnow, author of My Life as a Male Anorexic (1996), whose illness is part of a long stream of related obsessions. A few essays are more analytical, considering such topics as the reluctance of some insurance companies to provide coverage and a patient's right to refuse treatment. Some are impassioned views of how society trivializes the disease or historical perspectives (an exploration of the fourteenth-century St. Catherine of Siena's "holy anorexia" is particularly fascinating). In all cases, the writers include vivid details and some eye-opening viewpoints. Organizations to contact and a bibliography are appended. --Roger Leslie