Book & podcast collection

Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World

byTheresa MacPhail

Medical anthropologist Theresa MacPhail investigates the dramatic rise of allergies and autoimmune irritation in a rapidly changing world. She visits researchers, clinics, patients, and communities to examine genetics, immune development, microbes, pollution, diet, climate, urbanization, and the hygiene hypothesis. The book explains why causes remain difficult to isolate and why treatments vary from avoidance to immunotherapy. MacPhail connects intimate symptoms with environmental and social conditions, showing that allergic disease is neither imaginary nor purely individual. Our irritated bodies, she argues, register transformations in the ecosystems and lifestyles surrounding them.

Publisher

Random House Publishing Group

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

368

ISBN

9780593229194