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# Beth Linker

Historian of medicine, disability and the body

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.bethlinker.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Rebecca Mead](https://www.bethlinker.com/rebecca-mead/) - “A long history of anxiety about the proximity between human and bestial nature. . . . Linker traces the history of this concern: from the exchanges of nineteenth-century scientists, who first identified the possible ancestral causes of contemporary back pain, to the late-twentieth-century popularity of the Alexander Technique, Pilates, and hatha yoga. . . .
- [Daniel Felsenthal](https://www.bethlinker.com/daniel-felsenthal/) - “Astonishing.” – Daniel Felsenthal, New Republic
- [Belinda Lanks](https://www.bethlinker.com/belinda-lanks/) - ” Well-researched.” – Belinda Lanks, Wall Street Journal
- [Shelf Awareness](https://www.bethlinker.com/shelf-awareness/) - “Slouch is a skillfully researched, engrossing account of a socially engineered epidemic that captured the public imagination for the better part of a century.​​​​​​” – Shelf Awareness
- [Isabel Berwick](https://www.bethlinker.com/isabel-berwick/) - “Linker expertly conveys just how embedded posture science once was — and how quickly it was forgotten.” – Isabel Berwick, Financial Times
- [Anna Katharina Schaffner](https://www.bethlinker.com/anna-katharina-schaffner/) - “Compelling. . . . [a] fascinating study.” – Anna Katharina Schaffner, Times Literary Supplement
- [Choice Reviews](https://www.bethlinker.com/choice-reviews/) - “An engaging book on the science of posture. . . . [Linker] provides a sophisticated critique of identifying postural problems as an ‘epidemic,’ which engages modes of surveillance and control, often internalized by each generation. . . . Highly recommended.” – Choice Reviews
- [Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler](https://www.bethlinker.com/jennifer-kaufmann-buhler/) - “A useful addition to the larger scholarship on the social, cultural, and political implications of bodily standards. . . . [Slouch] reveals the normalization and standardization of bodily comportment that was central to the posture sciences from its origins to the present and interrogates the ableism and racism at its core.” – Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler, Technology
- [Rajiv M. Sastry](https://www.bethlinker.com/rajiv-m-sastry/) - “[Slouch] offers insight into how persistent postural ableism harms disabled communities today and why posture continues to captivate modern research and retail…Essential reading for all students and professionals whose work concerns bodies and health inequity.” – Rajiv M. Sastry, Disability & Society
- [Natalia Mehlman Petrzela](https://www.bethlinker.com/4348-2/) - “Slouch is a gripping read that made me sit up a little straighter in my chair—and taught me how that very impulse, while no longer imposed by campus medical inspectors or stiff ‘posture fashion,’ has come to be so ingrained in the American psyche. Our attitudes about health, beauty, ability, race, and more are vividly,
- [Laura Stark](https://www.bethlinker.com/laura-stark/) - “From a preeminent historian of disability, Slouch lights up the corners where ableism still lurks. Inventive, persuasive, and important, Beth Linker’s wide-ranging book follows the curves of American posture science through the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship. This book is ardently needed—to support more liberatory notions of beauty, belonging, power, consent, and
- [Joanna Bourke](https://www.bethlinker.com/joanna-bourke/) - “Who would have thought that slouching could be so riveting? Acclaimed historian Beth Linker has written an enthralling account of posture, prejudice, panic, and disability. Essential reading for anyone curious about bodies.” – Joanna Bourke, author of The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers
- [Jonathan Marks](https://www.bethlinker.com/sample-testimonial/) - "Slouch persuasively shows that the Ivy League nude posture photo scandal was just a small part of the story of a twentieth-century public health program—one based on the false idea that there is a single optimal posture for everyone. Beth Linker does a wonderful job of straightening out the story of bent backs!" - Jonathan
- [Jaipreet Virdi](https://www.bethlinker.com/tiffany-hilke-testimonial/) - "Slouch unearths the history of posture to reveal how it was more than a signifier of good breeding and class civility: it was a central aspect of social and personal hygiene that, if neglected, could become a public health crisis. A richly detailed book about what it meant—and means—to be ‘posture conscious.'" - Jaipreet Virdi,

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.bethlinker.com/) - Beth Linker's research focuses on how disability becomes defined, medicalized, and marginalized in modern US history. She is the author or editor of 3 books.
- [Contact & Media Kit](https://www.bethlinker.com/contact/) - Contact & Media KitReach out to schedule an interview or speaking event with Beth. Fill out this field Please enter a valid email address. Fill out this field SubmitMedia Kit One Sentence BioBeth Linker is an author and professor of the history of science, disability, and health care. Short Bio, AcademicBeth Linker is the Samuel
- [Press](https://www.bethlinker.com/press/) - PressBook Reviews, Interviews, Podcasts & TV Appearances Book ReviewsMead, Rebecca. “The Truth Behind the Slouching Epidemic.” The New Yorker. April 8, 2024. Schaffner, Anna Katharina. “Slouch: Posture pandemic in modern America by Beth Linker | Book review.” TLS. July 17, 2024. Felsenthal, Daniel. “The Bad Politics of Bad Posture.” The New Republic. August 8, 2024.
- [Events](https://www.bethlinker.com/events/) - EventsEvents with Beth Linker Talks & Presentations March 19, 2025 – “Posture Myths and Truths: The Scientific Origins of Our Health Beliefs about Slouching.” Science History Institute. Live presentation in Philadelphia, PA. November 26, 2024 – “Posture Myths and Truths: The Scientific Origins of Our Health Beliefs about Slouching.” The Cosmopolitan Club. Live presentation in
- [Other Writing](https://www.bethlinker.com/other-writing/) - Other Writing2025 “Twist and Shout: Music, Race, Medical Moralization.” Nursing Clio. 2024 “In Defence of Slouching.” Psyche. “Actually, It’s OK to Slouch.” Time.com. “The Power of Creating Archival Silences.” Princeton University Press. 2021 “Toward a History of Ableness.” All of Us. A Blog for the Disability History Association. 2017 “Legacy of War Includes Medical System
- [Books](https://www.bethlinker.com/books/) - BooksSlouch: Posture Panic in Modern America In 1995, a scandal erupted when the New York Times revealed that the Smithsonian possessed a century’s worth of nude “posture” photos of college students. In this riveting history, Beth Linker tells why these photos were only a small part of the incredible story of twentieth-century America’s largely forgotten
- [About](https://www.bethlinker.com/about/) - AboutBeth Linker Linker is Chair of the Department of the History and Sociology of Science and the Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences. She is also a former physical therapist and holds an M.A. in bioethics. Her research focuses on how disability becomes defined, medicalized, and marginalized in modern U.S. history.

## Categories

- [Testimonials](https://www.bethlinker.com/category/testimonials/)