Sick and Tired

“An important and ambitious book that tackles a pervasive but little understood medical problem: chronic fatigue. Emily K. Abel offers a unique and creative blend of history, memoir, and contemporary medical knowledge, one that fills a glaring gap in the literature.”—Susan Cahn, University at Buffalo

“Emily Abel has written far more than ‘an intimate history of fatigue.’ She’s written a cultural, social, political, economic, medical, business, gender, and labor history of fatigue as well. She skillfully and compellingly demonstrates that fatigue is a fascinating historical topic.”—Jacqueline H. Wolf, author of Cesarean Section: An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequence

“This is quintessential Emily Abel: concise, deeply researched, thoughtful and nuanced in illuminating a long-misunderstood problem. It is also a thoroughly compelling read.”—Janet Farrell Brodie, Claremont Graduate University

“A personal story made more universal that many readers will be able to identify with, and a well-documented study of the history and current state of the science of fatigue.”—Library Journal

“A smart new book. . . . Abel’s work stands out as one of the first to tackle the nature and representation of fatigue itself, presenting an absorbing, incisive cultural history.”—Health Rising

“Sick and Tired is not just a medical history, but an account of capitalism and its physical and emotional consequences. These questions are particularly pressing now, as many organisations reconsider the post-pandemic workplace. . . . A convincing model for how to produce meaningful and politically engaged medical histories, stories that have only become more pertinent in the age of Covid-19.”—History Today

“Abel brings to light the importance of seeing fatigue as a distinct health condition necessitating direct intervention and empathy for people experiencing the condition.”—CHOICE

“Seeley’s work reminds us that, from its origin, the United States has been a multiracial society, a project built by hands of many colors. There was no all-white founding of the nation. In our current fraught political moment, this book is a timely and meticulous documentation of this fact.”—American Indian Culture and Research Journal