Mr. America
Subtitle: the tragic history of a bodybuilding icon
By: John D. Fair
Edition: First edition.
Series: Terry and Jan Todd series on physical culture and sports; Terry and Jan Todd series on physical culture and sports
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 457
ISBN-13: 9780292760820
Subjects: Bodybuilding; Competitions; History
Other titles: Mister America
Description: "For most of the twentieth century the 'Mr America' image epitomized muscular manhood. From humble beginnings in 1939 at a small gym in Schenectady, New York, the Mr America Contest became the world's premier bodybuilding event over the next thirty years ... Interviewing nearly one hundred major figures in the physical culture movement (including twenty-five Mr Americas) ... [this] captures the event's path to idealism and its slow descent into obscurity ... As the 1960s marked a turbulent transition in American society ... Mr America changed as well. Exploring the influence of other bodily displays, such as the Mr Universe and Mr Olympia contests and the Miss America pageant, Fair focuses on commercialism, size obsession and drugs that corrupted the competition's original intent"--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 425-435) and index.
Table of contents: title: Precedents; title: The Greek ideal; title: The athletic body; title: The golden age; title: The first Mr. America contests; title: The glory years; title: Multiple Mr. Americas; title: Winds of change; title: Decline and fall; title: The Arnold era; title: The Sprague revolution; title: Professionalizing amateurism; title: Eclipse of an icon.