Andy62
03-14-2010, 10:36 PM
"Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet"
by Mark Adams
"Mr America" by Mark Adams Is a very interesting book about a very interesting man, Bernarr MacFadden who helped shape and was shaped by his era .Bernarr MacFadden is remembered as "The Father Of Physical Culture" It is the story of a man who started life with little formal education, a history of poor health, and came from an abusive childhood yet went on to build a publishing empire and became one of the best known and most influential people of his generation. He lived during the Industrial Revolution which was an era of great change much the same as the world today. It caused a great migration from the farms to the cities which in turn caused massive changes in life styles and the skills needed to earn a living. It took men from the physical strength oriented labor required during the pre-mechanization days of working on the farm to the less physical office and machine oriented jobs that replaced them. This may well have been a driving force in the interest in performing strongmen and the interest in physical culture that was such a big part of MacFadden's passion and the industry that he helped found. MacFadden's life and accomplishments remind me of the old saying that "struggle will either make you or break you". In his case the struggle made him largely because of the proactive- positive way that he reacted too it. I have always had an interest in history and biography and particularly in physical culture history. MacFadden's life was tied to contemporaries of his who were also part of the personal development industry. The one major event that kick started the whole strength and physical culture movement in the United States was the Chicago Exhibition of 1893. The physical culture center piece of that event was Eugen Sandow who had a build the likes of which had not been seen and promoted in the modern world up until that time. Sandow's manager was Florenz [Flo] Ziegfeld, the legendary promoter who later gained fame as the promoter of the Ziegfeld Follies. He helped Sandow develop a show that perfectly displayed his physique and used revolutionary highlight directed lighting. MacFadden was able to see Sandow perform which had a major effect on MacFadden's thinking and future. Another individual who was influenced by Sandow at the Chicago Exhibition was Alan Calvert who went on to found the Milo Barbell Company and began mass producing the first American Barbells in 1902. One individual, not mentioned in the book, that had to have had a strong influence on MacFadden was Alois P. Swoboda whose "Conscious Evolution" mail order mind/body personal development course dominated American Physical Culture before MacFadden started his publishing activities. Swoboda counted as his students Amercan Presidents, business leaders and the American Intelligencia of the time. Bob Hoffman,The Father Of World Weightlifting, and founder of The York Barbell Company, which ultimately purchased Alan Calvert's Milo Barbell Company, said that His father was a student of Alois P. Swoboda before he was born in 1898. He also said that his father had the best build that he had ever seen and he got it from practicing Alois P. Swoboda's non apparatus bodyweight tensing exercises. These tensing exercises were of the same type that were later promoted by MacFadden. Here another linkage comes into play as Charles Atlas said, "Everything that I know I learned from A.P. Swoboda." Bernarr MacFadden made Charles Atlas a celebrity when Atlas won two perfect man contests sponsored by MacFadden including "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man". When Dr.Frederick Tilney got the Idea to start the Atlas Course both he and Atlas were employees of MacFadden. The Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension Course was initially promoted in MacFaddens' publications including "Physical Culture Magazine"
I found "Mr America" a very interesting and informative book about a very interesting man who lived and influenced a very interesting period in America history. I highly recommend it.
by Mark Adams
"Mr America" by Mark Adams Is a very interesting book about a very interesting man, Bernarr MacFadden who helped shape and was shaped by his era .Bernarr MacFadden is remembered as "The Father Of Physical Culture" It is the story of a man who started life with little formal education, a history of poor health, and came from an abusive childhood yet went on to build a publishing empire and became one of the best known and most influential people of his generation. He lived during the Industrial Revolution which was an era of great change much the same as the world today. It caused a great migration from the farms to the cities which in turn caused massive changes in life styles and the skills needed to earn a living. It took men from the physical strength oriented labor required during the pre-mechanization days of working on the farm to the less physical office and machine oriented jobs that replaced them. This may well have been a driving force in the interest in performing strongmen and the interest in physical culture that was such a big part of MacFadden's passion and the industry that he helped found. MacFadden's life and accomplishments remind me of the old saying that "struggle will either make you or break you". In his case the struggle made him largely because of the proactive- positive way that he reacted too it. I have always had an interest in history and biography and particularly in physical culture history. MacFadden's life was tied to contemporaries of his who were also part of the personal development industry. The one major event that kick started the whole strength and physical culture movement in the United States was the Chicago Exhibition of 1893. The physical culture center piece of that event was Eugen Sandow who had a build the likes of which had not been seen and promoted in the modern world up until that time. Sandow's manager was Florenz [Flo] Ziegfeld, the legendary promoter who later gained fame as the promoter of the Ziegfeld Follies. He helped Sandow develop a show that perfectly displayed his physique and used revolutionary highlight directed lighting. MacFadden was able to see Sandow perform which had a major effect on MacFadden's thinking and future. Another individual who was influenced by Sandow at the Chicago Exhibition was Alan Calvert who went on to found the Milo Barbell Company and began mass producing the first American Barbells in 1902. One individual, not mentioned in the book, that had to have had a strong influence on MacFadden was Alois P. Swoboda whose "Conscious Evolution" mail order mind/body personal development course dominated American Physical Culture before MacFadden started his publishing activities. Swoboda counted as his students Amercan Presidents, business leaders and the American Intelligencia of the time. Bob Hoffman,The Father Of World Weightlifting, and founder of The York Barbell Company, which ultimately purchased Alan Calvert's Milo Barbell Company, said that His father was a student of Alois P. Swoboda before he was born in 1898. He also said that his father had the best build that he had ever seen and he got it from practicing Alois P. Swoboda's non apparatus bodyweight tensing exercises. These tensing exercises were of the same type that were later promoted by MacFadden. Here another linkage comes into play as Charles Atlas said, "Everything that I know I learned from A.P. Swoboda." Bernarr MacFadden made Charles Atlas a celebrity when Atlas won two perfect man contests sponsored by MacFadden including "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man". When Dr.Frederick Tilney got the Idea to start the Atlas Course both he and Atlas were employees of MacFadden. The Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension Course was initially promoted in MacFaddens' publications including "Physical Culture Magazine"
I found "Mr America" a very interesting and informative book about a very interesting man who lived and influenced a very interesting period in America history. I highly recommend it.