In her most recent contribution to the historical scholarship on the health of women and children, Hilary Marland considers the diverse factors contributing to construction of a new characterization of girlhood and girls' health in Britain between 1874 and 1920. Based on an exhaustive review of secondary scholarship and sources, including prescriptive medical, health, and education literature; popular magazines and newspapers; records of schools and voluntary organizations; and, to a lesser extent, personal accounts, Marland addresses a set of historical questions that enables the reader to explore new terrain. What was adolescent girlhood? How did the girl of, say, 1900 differ from her 1850s predecessor? How could health in girls be conceptualized, identified, and fostered? Locating discussion of these issues within the turbulent context of compulsory education, concerns about national degeneration, rising feminism, and increasingly authoritative expert opinion, Marland maps the transition from the pale, weak, overly emotional, sofa-bound, mid-Victorian young woman to the “modern girl” who “was visualized increasingly as fit, radiant, filled with energy, cheery, and outgoing, as she bounded into new and challenging social and occupational roles” (3).

The book approaches this topic from multiple directions. The first chapter takes up medical views of puberty and its dangers, including chlorosis, hysteria, anorexia, and masturbation, reminding readers of Michel Foucault's assertion that “as scientific discourse about the physical capabilities of the body increases, it tends to be brought increasingly within the orbit of professional control and power” (41). In contrast to the predominantly negative views expressed by medical authors, the next chapter concerns the positive health advice offered by a different set of experts, who urged girls to get outdoors and become physical active. Expressed both in prescriptive texts and in periodicals targeting girls themselves, this image of the healthy girl emphasized exercise, loose clothing (as opposed to Victorian tight lacing), and healthy habits. In the third chapter, Marland takes on the range of conflicting opinions about exercise and sport—particularly bicycling—for young women, from the views of eugenicist Dr. Arabella Kenealy's 1899 identification of the masculine “bicycle-faced” monstrosity caused by girls' overindulgence in this activity to the developing consensus that cycling was beneficial and fun—as well as increasingly popular among members of all social classes. Chapter 4 considers school as the site of health education and scientifically validated physical activity. This discussion is rendered particularly interesting by its focus on contemporary concerns about the danger and/or safety of study to young people in general, and pubescent girls in particular. The final substantive chapter turns its attention to “The Health of the Factory Girl,” whose poor living and working environments, together with her self-destructive habits, provided fodder for both concerns about national degeneration and efforts by organizations such as the YWCA and Girl Guides to provide healthy alternatives to stewed tea, buns, and dance halls.

Health and Girlhood in Britain is a thoroughly researched, well-written contribution to an increasingly multidisciplinary scholarship. Depending on and adding to the histories of medicine, public health, education, women, and children, it adds new dimensions to the discussion of modernization. Moving beyond social control arguments regarding the place of women's health in eugenic and imperialist projects, Marland recognizes complex expert motivations including the desire both to further the successful future of “the race” and to improve the experience of girls and women because of their intrinsic value. She also transcends social class boundaries, enabling readers to gain understanding of the dramatically different worlds of middle- and working-class girls during a period of enormous change. As all good books do, this one raises many questions it does not address: How did compulsory education affect conceptualization of working-class girls in their social environments? How did the advent of the “new girl” influence relationships between boys and girls—particularly as women's employment and war undermined traditional norms? Finally, how did the flood of new expertise about girls' health affect the ways girls themselves thought and behaved? These questions were not, of course, the foci of this book; they do, however, provide scope for further research.