Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding (Sport and Society)
In this entry in Illinois' Sport and Society series, Chapman engagingly portrays one Eugen Sandow, who not only "invented the business of bodybuilding," but would go on to define the "parameters of masculine beauty," for his time and ours. Sandow was, it seems, first and foremost a showman. After an early stint in a European circus, he met his mentor, Louis Attila, who helped turn the lean and wiry Sandow into a muscleman. Sandow's career as showman began with a successful publicity stunt in Amsterdam, which he was able to parlay into repeated public performances of strength. As his European success grew, Sandow, always the promoter, had "good photographs of himself" sold and distributed, with an unintended consequence: his photos become a sort of late 1800s soft porn among homosexuals. In the U.S., Sandow was able to use the emerging notion of muscular Christianity to connect physical strength with moral virtues--and thereby promote himself and the sport of bodybuilding. An important addition to our understanding of the male athlete and the cultural values and virtues he has come to reflect.Brian McCombie--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.