In the late 1960s and early ’70s, organic and all-natural foods were becoming commonplace in human diets. As we became more aware of what we were putting into our own bodies, it seemed only natural that we began to consider what we were feeding our pets. Little did I know that my first job, at the young age of 17, would shape the course of my life. My duties included taking care of the Goldstein family’s two girls and working four days a week at their Katonah, New York, store Lick Your Chops, one of the very first all-natural pet stores.

Historically a spoken tradition passed from one generation to the next, the official code of conduct for Bros appears here in its published form for the first time ever. By upholding the tenets of this sacred and legendary document, any dude can learn to achieve Bro-dom.

When did cosmetic surgery become a common practice, the stuff of everyday conversation? In a work that combines a provocative ethnography of plastic surgery and a penetrating analysis of beauty and feminism, Virginia L. Blum searches out the social conditions and imperatives that have made ours a culture of cosmetic surgery. From diverse viewpoints, ranging from cosmetic surgery patient to feminist cultural critic, she looks into the realities and fantasies that have made physical malleability an essential part of our modern-day identity.