Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad...
During two feverish decades between the world wars, Bernarr Macfadden did more to educate the world about healthy eating, alternative medicine,... read full description
reviews
Nov 27, 2010
Art
rated it: 
I know you may not have guessed this, but around the age of 13, I developed a lifelong love of barbells and dumbbells. Over the years, to educate myself, I read tons books on the subject of weight lifting. However, until this book, I had never heard of Bernarr Macfadden. Since he did a great deal to transform American society, I believe it's unfortunate so few people know about him today.
Growing up in Missouri in the late 1800s, Macfadden became an orphan at a fairly young a More...
Growing up in Missouri in the late 1800s, Macfadden became an orphan at a fairly young a More...
Jul 30, 2009
Judith
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It's amazing to discover a "famous" person that no one has ever heard of. This guy, Bernarr McFadden was doing the Charles Atlas body-building thing in the early 1900's. He was a health food fanatic who opened restaurants in many major cities which fed health food for one cent during the depression years. He started health clinics and had numerous health publications and went all over the world pushing the ideas of good health through exercise, fresh air and sunshine, raw vegetables
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Apr 11, 2009
Denali
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This book is like a full length magazine profile, which is excellent, esp. since McFadden was crazy enough to provide sufficient interesting material but Adams has enough hold on the stories to keep the book feeling like its hopping from one outrageous incident to the next. What kind of man (you might wonder) would attempt to name one of his daughters Brawnda, commission a large nude sculpture of another, create a breakfast cereal called Strengtho, and try to run for president, senator and gover
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Aug 25, 2009
Diane
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It was easy to read, which was nice, but got repetitive in places. It is interesting how many of the ideas of this guy have kept coming back in and out of fashion for so many years. You'd think health and diet and nutrition would be fairly constant things, not subject to trends and fashion, but they're not. Bernarr McFadden would still find his niche today with his eat only raw foods and minimally processed foods!
Jan 15, 2011
Carol
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This book was about an interesting subject (Bernarr McFadden's diet and exercise ideas, before those kind of ideas were popular and the influence he has had on the newspaper industry),the book itself was way to long, I skipped whole sections! The epilogue, where the author actually tries out Bernarr McFadden's healthful ideas was very interesting.
Dec 30, 2009
Becca
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This book was a fun and enlightening read. I had never heard of Bernarr McFadden before and was intrigued to discover what a large figure he was in the creation of the modern fitness industry, the newspaper business, and beyond. As you read, you will discover his life was intertwined with many people you know as household names in history. You will find the seeds of such ideas as intermittent fasting, avoiding white starchy foods, regular exercise, and more. Inspiring men like Jack Lalanne,
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Jan 20, 2012
Avis
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MacFadden had a childhood so wretched he made Oliver Twist looked privileged. His drunken father abandoned him, and his mother died of consumption. Sent to an orphanage, he starved so seriously that when he would walnut shells along with the meats.
Macfadden was responsible for developed 'Muscle Culture,' and he founded several well-known magazines of his day. He deserves more credit than he gets for operating a chain of restaurants that fed people dirt-cheap meals during the Great More...
Macfadden was responsible for developed 'Muscle Culture,' and he founded several well-known magazines of his day. He deserves more credit than he gets for operating a chain of restaurants that fed people dirt-cheap meals during the Great More...
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