Customer Reviews

Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the Challenge of Modernity in America

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This relatively short and well-illustrated book presents brief portraits of three contemporaries from the turn of the last century: bodybuilder Engen Sandow, escape artist Harry Houdini, and the fictional Tarzan (as well as his creator Edgar Rice Burroughs). Kasson's thesis is twofold: that their popularity was emblematic of the insecurity that white males felt in an increasingly bureaucratic world that threatened racial, sexual, and cultural hegemony and that their semi-mythical qualities were instrumental in changing the collective sense of the ideal man.

These stories are undeniably fascinating and informative, and Kasson's thesis is fairly straightfoward. Because Kasson's argument seems easily supported, he is able to focus more on biographical rather than thematic details and includes much information that is not necessary to his argument. As a result, I found myself wishing several times that I were reading instead the three major biographies on which much of his narrative is based: David Chapman's "Sandow the Magnificent," Kenneth Silverman's "Houdini!!!," and Irwin Porges's "Edgar Rice Burroughs."

A terrific storyteller, Kasson is likewise unable to avoid including several vignettes that have no direct bearing on his thesis. This is not necessarily a bad thing: his account of female impersonator Julian Eltinge is certainly intriguing, but this section seems peripheral to his discussion. Likewise, he discusses Houdini's obsession with debunking spiritualists, especially Mina ("Margery") Crandon, but it's never really quite clear what this has to do with societal perceptions of the white male body. Kasson attempts, unconvincingly, to present this as a battle of the sexes, but admits that Houdini directed his ire toward all psychic charlatans, regardless of their sex. Margery just happened to be among the most "talented" of the spiritualists. When he does finally return to his thesis, the prose turns to semi-parodic academic-speak: "In exposing Margery's fraud, Houdini also exposed her as a woman who, despite all her guides and talents, could only sham the phallus."

Fortunately, these occasional faults seldom mar the overall presentation. Not only did I enjoy these tales, but Kasson has piqued my interest enough to make me want to read more about these three paragons of "masculinity."

I read this book years ago when the hardbound edition first came out. At that time, it just struck me as interesting light reading. But since then I have thought about this book quite often. There's more to this book than "interesting light reading," which is why I'm reviewing the book after several years. The concept of an ideal man is at least as old as the Greeks. Greek statuary was admired and revered for its depiction of idealized youths. Kasson traces the late 19th/early 20th century take on this idea by focusing on three men who represented different versions of a "perfect man." Early bodybuilder Eugene Sandow created a sensation in Vaudeville with his act in which he not only lifted huge weights, but also impersonated Greek statues come to life while wearing only a fig leaf. Then there's Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who is not only physically perfect, but he is uncorrupted by modernity. Tarzan caught fire with a generation of urban Americans nostalgic for a less sophisticated past. But could a modern-day Tarzan survive in the urban jungle? He would need to be wilier. Enter Houdini, an exhibitionist like Sandow, who used his sex appeal to sell his illusion and escape act. Kasson doesn't really draw much of a conclusion from all this. But he presents the material in such a way that the reader draws his own conclusions.

The section dealing with Burroughs was the part of the book that I've thought about most, because it deals with the role of magazines in American culture. Kasson casually notes that magazines were invented only to get people to look at advertising. Now this for me was a bombshell, although I did not realize it at the time. I kept seeing evidence of its truth when new magazines debuted to popularize products of dubious worth (i.e., cigar-smoking and tattoos).

This is quick and entertaining reading that has far more depth than at first appears. Worth reading. Four stars.

Wonderful documentation of how we perceive ourselves as a modern man. Since 90% of the media is devoted to on or about women this book is definetly a breath of fresh air in its focus on little explored territory regarding the sociological development and in some instances retardation of men in our wetern society.

John Kasson is a wonderful writer and historian in the best sense of the word as he is appears genuinely excited about his discoveries and piecing together of his thesis. That combination never misses!

I'd reccommend this highly to anyone as a gift to a young man when he hits his later teens or to any man who has pumped the weights and read great books-ergo: Brain & Brawn. Worth the read!

I think the combination of the academic sounding subtitle, and the rather lurid cover art illustrate the problem this book presents; it never seems to be sure whether it's trying to be PH.d thesis or a potboiler.

The story it tells is fascinating, to be sure. It's remarkable to reflect how much social and technological turmoil the US was in during the time period examined, and how much of a struggle life was for many. This is the context from which Sandow, Houdini and Borroughs arose, and the authors thesis seems quite sound. But it's not particularly coherently developed. And the biographical details are a bit uneven. I found myself wishing for a deeper discussion of the flaws of the "Perfect Man" that Sandow, Houdini and Tarzan represented, perhap unfairly, for the book sets out to tell the start of Beefcake as an ideal, not it's whole sorry history.

A worthy read, but not as compelling as I wanted it to be.

INTERESTING BOOK, MY HUSBAND PLAYED TARZAN IN A 1959 MGM REMAKE OF TARZAN THE APE MAN. SO HE IS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN ANYTHING TARZAN. WE ALSO GAVE A COPY TO A FRIEND/TARZAN COLLECTOR.