Review by Booklist Review
For more than 40 years, Chapman has collected photos and advertising art of muscular men, nearly all half to wholly nude. He presents this generous selection from his archive chronologically. The first chapter covers 1860-1914; the second, 1914-19; and the third through seventh, the succeeding five decades, after which the courts overthrew the laws used to prosecute anyone who tried to sell male nudes. Chapman discriminates six posing modes, each stressing a different intent, whether to demonstrate athleticism, aggression, beauty, health, power, or erotic appeal; seldom is any the sole mode in a given picture. Grubisic's essay concentrates on the use of strongman images to sell consumer goods and shape cultural attitudes as well as advance the body-building industry. Pictures of legendary physiques from original superstar hunk Eugen Sandow to Charles Atlas to movie heartthrobs to the latter-day Sandow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, appear, well reproduced and annotated. The famous bods are virtually never frontally nude; those who are are renowned only in body building, gay erotica, or both. What might have been a wink-wink, nudge-nudge volume is instead vital Americana.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
