Looks at the life and career of the man who invented the business of bodybuilding, from his days in a European circus to his performances in Amsterdam and continual self-publicity that made him famous

Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding (Sport and Society)

Politics & Social Sciences

Chapman, David L.

Social Sciences

University of Illinois Press

Looks at the life and career of the man who invented the business of bodybuilding, from his days in a European circus to his performances in Amsterdam and continual self-publicity that made him famous.

Biographies & Memoirs

John Fair and David Chapman tell the story of how filmmakers use and manipulate the appearance and performances of muscular men and women to enhance the appeal of their productions. The authors show how this practice, deeply rooted in western epistemological traditions, evolved from the art of photography through magic lantern and stage shows into the motion picture industry, arguing that the sight of muscles in action induced a higher degree of viewer entertainment. From Eugen Sandow to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, muscular actors appear capable of performing the miraculous, and with the aid of stuntmen and filming contrivances, they do. By such means, muscles are used to perfect the art of illusion, inherent in movie-making from its earliest days. &nbsp;

Muscles in the Movies: Perfecting the Art of Illusion

Fair, John D.

Sports & Outdoors

University of Missouri

An amazing collection of full-color, sexually explicit 3-D photographs of men taken in the early 1950s by Denny Denfield. Denfield was an amateur physique photographer in California who worked as an accountant for the US Army. His photographs, never distributed publicly given their illegality at the time, display a skill, wit, and daring rarely seen, and with their rich Kodachrome colors and mid-century decors, can now be appreciated for their roguish, almost naïve charm.
The essay by David Chapman, from whose own private collection these photographs appear, sheds fascinating light on Denfield’s secret life and work (stereography had been invented in 1850, but the advent of a compact, easy-to-use 3-D camera in 1947 allowed amateurs like Denfield to produce their own). A narrative by acclaimed writer Thomas Waugh (Lust Unearthed, Out/Lines, Gay Art: A Historic Collection) places Denfield’s work in the historical context of homoerotic photography over the last century.
The 3-D photographs comprise dual images that “come alive” when viewed through the 3-D glasses, supplied with the book. Equal parts kitschy, informed, and sexy, Comin’ at Ya! is a collection that is both fun and historically fascinating.

Comin' at Ya!: The Homoerotic 3-D Photographs of Denny Denfield

Arts & Photography

Waugh, Thomas

Individual Artists

Arsenal Pulp Press

The "American hunk" is a cultural icon: the image of the chiseled, well-built male body has been promoted and exploited for commercial use for over 125 years, whether in movies, magazines, advertisements, or on consumer products, not only in America but throughout the world.
American Hunks is a fascinating collection of images (many in full color) depicting the muscular American male as documented in popular culture from 1860 to 1970. The book, divided into specific historic eras, includes such personalities as bodybuilder Charles Atlas; pioneer weightlifter Eugene Sandow; movie stars like Steve "Hercules" Reeves and Johnny "Tarzan" Weismuller; and publications such as the 1920s-era magazine Physical Culture and the 1950s-era comic book Mr. Muscles. It also touches on the use of masculine, homoerotic imagery to sell political and military might (including American recruitment posters and Nazi propaganda from the 1936 Olympics), and how companies have used buff, near-naked men to sell products from laundry detergent to sacks of flour since the 1920s. The introduction by David L. Chapman offers insightful information on individual images, while the essay by Brett Josef Grubisic places the work in its proper historical context.
David L. Chapman has written many books on male photography and bodybuilding, including Comin' at Ya!: The Homoerotic 3-D Photographs of Denny Denfield.
Brett Josef Grubisic is author of the novel The Age of Cities and editor of Contra/Diction: New Queer Fiction.

American Hunks: The Muscular Male Body in Popular Culture, 1860-1970

Grubisic, Brett Josef

Over the last one hundred years, the image of the physically strong, confident, muscular woman has been the object of derision, fascination, and erotic fantasy; she is often portrayed, in both photography and illustration, as a sexy dominatrix, sexless mannequin, or sideshow freak. In this fascinating collection of rare archival images from the late-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, authors David L. Chapman and Patricia Vertinsky trace the peculiar yet fascinating history of muscular women in popular culture.
One of the battlefields in this cultural conflict appeared in popular imagery: posters, advertisements, comic books, magazine illustrations, and (most particularly) photography all offered outlets of expression for many muscular women. Until quite recently, however, such females were packaged for the general public as physical monstrosities, lesbian man-haters, kinky sex objects, or beautiful living statues. At the same time, many women, including those in the emerging female bodybuilder community, have had to fight hard to reclaim the image of female muscularity as their own.
Featuring some two hundred full-color and black-and-white illustrations, many never before published, Venus with Biceps is a beautiful and historically significant book about gender, image, social expectations, and female power.
David L. Chapman has written extensively on gay erotic photography and male bodybuilders.
Patricia Vertinsky is a professor at the School of Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia who has written four previous books on sports and gender.

Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women

Over the last one hundred years, the image of the muscular man has known no boundaries; it has been the object of envy and desire, and used to convey optimal health and fitness, product appeal, political power, and military might. Universal Hunks, David L. Chapman's follow-up to American Hunks, is a captivating collection of historical images of muscular men from around the world, beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing up until the 1970s, including photographs, posters, advertisements, magazine and comic book covers, and product packaging. The book considers the eroticized, politicized, and commercialized male image through history, and evaluates its fascinating cultural context by country and continent; culled from the author's personal collections, it includes materials never published before, including images of Asian bodybuilders, European comic-book superheroes, and muscleman posters from the Soviet Union. The book also includes a foreword by cultural and sports historian Douglas Brown.
Full-color throughout, Universal Hunks is a thought-provoking and sexy visual tour of musclemen from all parts of the globe.
David L. Chapman is the author of twelve books on male photography and bodybuilding, including American Hunks, Comin' at Ya!: The Homoerotic 3D Photographs of Denny Denfield, and Adonis: The Male Physique Pin-up, as well as the book Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women.

Universal Hunks: A Pictorial History of Muscular Men around the World, 1895-1975

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chapman, David L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Chapman, David L.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chapman, David L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding (Sport and Society)

Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding (Sport and Society)

Muscles in the Movies: Perfecting the Art of Illusion

Comin' at Ya!: The Homoerotic 3-D Photographs of Denny Denfield

American Hunks: The Muscular Male Body in Popular Culture, 1860-1970

Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women

Universal Hunks: A Pictorial History of Muscular Men around the World, 1895-1975