Muscle, Smoke, & Mirrors: Volume I [Paperback]

Randy Roach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2008

The research for this extensive, two volume project... represents a comprehensive effort to establish a complete context from which the sport of bodybuilding arose. "Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors" is the rise and fall of what was truly once an extraordinary discipline associated with a term known as "Physical Culture". Experience what bodybuilding was originally and learn just exactly what "Physical Culture" really is.See what growing philanthropic power flexed its financial and political muscles to foster its corporate agenda, compromising human health internationally.Read how the merger of technology and politics culminated in the industrialization, commercialization, federalization, internationalization and finally the STERILIZATION of a nation's food supply, rendering it suspect not only to the general public; but also to the most elite of athletes. Whether you are a novice, an elite bodybuilder or simply sports-nutrition minded, learn how the emerging forces of the Iron Game evolved. Ultimately, the factions of this industry would grow powerful and manipulative while fighting for control over the Game.It took the running of several parallel histories on bodybuilding, nutrition, supplements and the role of drugs to offer a complete, first-time unraveling of the web of confusion and politics that still permeates the sport into the 21st century!Volume I of "Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors" is truly the untold stories surrounding "Bodybuilding's Amazing Nutritional Origins."

Product Details

• Paperback: 584 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (June 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143437677X
• ISBN-13: 978-1434376770
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #206,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece on the History and Roots of the Bodybuilding and Nutrition Industries., October 30, 2009

By 

S. Morris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Muscle, Smoke, & Mirrors: Volume I (Paperback)

Randy has written a masterpiece on the history that covers the dawning of physical culture right through to bodybuilding in the 1960's. He has meticulously covered so many subjects that interconnect so well from the scientific nutritionists who stumble across tribes and cultures of people who have the keys to health, strength and longevity to fitness magazine owners, writers and articles who saw the dollars to promote fake foods that make a lot of money. Entangled within such well written work are some amazing and interesting characters who had differing motives and agendas that enlighten us to why and how we got where we are today within the arena of nutrition, bodybuilding, sports, strength and health.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book on nutrition and bodybuilding history, June 12, 2011

By 

Y. Emre Karasan "Y.Emre Karasan" (Istanbul, TR) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Muscle, Smoke, & Mirrors: Volume I (Paperback)

I can't put down this amazing book, very interesting facts about medical and nutrition industry.
It makes you question the "untouchable domineering position of western medicine" and what we're putting through our body everyday.
I salute visiually impaired but intellectually outstanding writer of this eye opener...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Muscle, Smoke, and Magic!, June 27, 2008

By 

Terry K. Strand (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Muscle, Smoke, & Mirrors: Volume I (Paperback)

As someone involved in the our beloved "Iron Game" for decades, I can vouch for the veracity of Mr. Roach's "Muscle, Smoke, and Mirrors". Long before Arnold became a household word and force of nature, young men around America contracted iron fever. The malady was characterized by an overwhelming desire for strength and muscle, far beyond, as the Superman prologue intoned, "those of mortal men". While most of our pals were slugging baseballs over outfield fences, we were slugging down hellacious protein concoctions to feed our pumped-up bodies. Rather than retreading urban muscle myths, Randy has spent five years interviewing the principals, and those that knew the champions most closely to write his magnum opus for bodybuilding fans. Thanx, Randy. A job well done.