Summary of Ethan Watters's Crazy Like Us

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In Hong Kong, the beauty industry outspends every other business sector on advertising. The reporting and photojournalism that appears alongside those ads has a different obsession: telling tales of young women celebrities. #2 The rise in eating disorders in Asia is due to a complex combination of cultural and cross-cultural influences. The West may be culpable for the rise in eating disorders in Asia, but not for the obvious reasons. #3 Anorexia has been present in the American culture for decades, but it was only in the past few years that it became more common. Understanding the forces behind this change may help us understand why anorexia has become so common in the West. #4 In China and Hong Kong, the disorder of anorexia was still unknown. Lee, however, found out that the disorder was extremely rare in these two regions. He suspected that there was something else, some factor that hadn’t been fully considered in the Western literature, that remained absent in these two regions.