Overview

If you thought the fitness craze was about being healthy, think again. Although Charles Atlas, Jack LaLanne, Jim Fixx, Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons, and Jillian Michaels might well point the way to a better body, they have done so only if their brands brought in profits. In the first book to tell the full story of the American obsession with fitness and how we got to where we are today, Jonathan Black gives us a backstage look at an industry and the people that have left an indelible mark on the American body and the consciousness it houses. Spanning the nation's fitness obsession from Atlas to Arnold, from Spinning to Zumba, and featuring an outrageous cast of characters bent on whipping us into shape while simultaneously shaping the way we view our bodies, Black tells the story of an outsized but little-examined aspect of our culture. With insights drawn from more than fifty interviews and attention to key developments in bodybuilding, aerobics, equipment, health clubs, running, sports medicine, group exercise, Pilates, and yoga, Making the American Body reveals how a focus on fitness has shaped not only our physiques but also, and more profoundly, American ideas of what ""fitness"" is.

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9780803243705

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Making the American Body is a fascinating and informative sprint through the history of body worship from the classical Greeks to the present-day fanatics of fitness. -Pat Jordan, author of A False Spring -- Pat Jordan In Making the American Body, Jonathan Black masterfully explores the many twists and evolutions of the fitness industry, from barbells to exercise machines to today's health clubs. -Jeff Friend, Foreword Reviews -- Jeff Friend Foreword Reviews The antecedents of the American fitness industry are varied and fascinating, and journalist Black ... does a superb job of chronicling them. -Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly As a book for a popular audience, it will be of interest to diverse readers. -J. L. Croissant, CHOICE -- J. L. Croissant CHOICE An interesting history of physical fitness in America. -Karen Sutherland, Library Journal -- Karen Sutherland Library Journal An engrossing history of fitness in the United States... A must-read for fitness buffs and beefy enough to whet the appetite of even the most inert couch potato. -Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Reviews

An indispensable read for anyone who wants to understand the history of exercise in America and its occasional failings and many triumphs. It fills a long-neglected niche. --Richard Cotton, national director of certification for the American College of Sports Medicine--Richard Cotton (03/05/2013)

Making the American Body is a fascinating and informative sprint through the history of body worship from the classical Greeks to the present-day fanatics of fitness. - Pat Jordan, author of A False Spring Jonathan Black vividly renders the trends and politics of the fitness movement through the decades, and many of the outsized personalities who have defined it. This is a fascinating and comprehensive look at what has become one of America's defining obsessions. - Charles Gaines, author and director of Pumping Iron Big bodies and bigger personalities built the American fitness industry. Jonathan Black's excellent history, the first comprehensive account of this industry's emergence, is not just for fitness buffs. This is a great story that gets to the heart of two American obsessions: building muscles and making money. Informative, insightful, and highly entertaining. - Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Luckiest Man, Opening Day, and Get Capone An indispensable read for anyone who wants to understand the history of exercise in America and its occasional failings and many triumphs. It fills a long-neglected niche. - Richard Cotton, national director of certification for the American College of Sports Medicine

""While offering largely a chronology of the evolution of a uniquely American brand of fitness, Black is quick to provide scintillating glimpses into the lives of fitness icons and explore philosophical trends and lucrative business models. ""--Kirkus Reviews ""Making the American Body is a fascinating and informative sprint through the history of body worship from the classical Greeks to the present-day fanatics of fitness."" - Pat Jordan, author of A False Spring ""Jonathan Black vividly renders the trends and politics of the fitness movement through the decades, and many of the outsized personalities who have defined it. This is a fascinating and comprehensive look at what has become one of America's defining obsessions."" - Charles Gaines, author and director of Pumping Iron ""Big bodies and bigger personalities built the American fitness industry. Jonathan Black's excellent history, the first comprehensive account of this industry's emergence, is not just for fitness buffs. This is a great story that gets to the heart of two American obsessions: building muscles and making money. Informative, insightful, and highly entertaining."" - Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Luckiest Man, Opening Day, and Get Capone ""An indispensable read for anyone who wants to understand the history of exercise in America and its occasional failings and many triumphs. It fills a long-neglected niche."" - Richard Cotton, national director of certification for the American College of Sports Medicine

Author Information

Jonathan Black is a veteran of magazine editing, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Inc., Forbes, GQ, and the American Spectator. He is the author of Yes, You Can! Behind the Hype and Hustle of the Motivation Biz and has taught at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. 

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