Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the Manly Culture of York Barbell [Paperback]

John D. Fair (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0271018550 | ISBN-13: 978-0271018553 | Publication Date: June 16, 2008

From the 1930s to the 1980s, the capital of weightlifting in America was York, Pennsylvania, the home of the York Barbell Company. Bob Hoffman, the founder of York Barbell, propagated an ideology of success for Americans seeking physical improvement. Often called the "Father of World Weightlifting," Hoffman was a pioneer in marketing barbells and health foods. He popularized weight training and inaugurated a golden age of American weightlifting. Muscletown USA--part biography, part business history, and part sports history--chronicles how Hoffman made York the mecca of manly culture for millions of followers worldwide.Hoffman created his so-called muscle empire out of an oil-burner business that he started in the early 1920s. Within a decade, his passion for sport exceeded his need to produce oil burners and by the outset of the Depression he began manufacturing barbells at the factory. He soon discovered a willing public of aspiring weightlifters like himself who would buy not only barbells but also health and fitness products. Hoffman soon recruited a remarkable group of athletes, whom he tagged his "York Gang." He gave these men jobs in the factory, where they trained for national and international meets. Gradually, Hoffman emerged as one of the most prominent muscle peddlers in America, using his fame and fortune to promote competitive weightlifting, bodybuilding, and powerlifting. Muscletown USA reveals other innovations in which Hoffman played a major role, including weight training for athletes, health foods, bottled spring water, isometrics, and women's weightlifting. Even anabolic steroids, first used by weightlifters in the early 1960s, were a direct outgrowth of the fitness culture spawned by Hoffman.Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Fair's book will appeal to a wide range of readers, including anyone fascinated by American sports history and the iron game. John D. Fair is professor of history and chair of the Department of History and Geography at Georgia College & State University in Milledgville, Georgia. He is the author of two books on modern British history. He has competed in more than fifty Olympic and powerlifting meets, coached several teams, taught weight-training classes, staged meets, been a national referee, served on the national weightlifting committee, and even judged a Mr. America contest.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Meticulously researched and engagingly written, the book will appeal to a wide range of readers, including anyone fascinated by American sports history and the iron game. --Pennsylvania Heritage

Meticulously documented and generously illustrated, this important contribution to the history of American culture is essential for the sports and American studies sections of all public and academic libraries. --Library Journal

Fairs tale is peppered with stories about ethnic assimilation through weightlifting success, Olympic glory, and the protracted struggle between the empires of York and Weider. At the center of it all is the indomitable personality and visionary spirit of Hoffman, whose dedication to weight training and singular pursuit of strength has indelibly stamped our culture. Meticulously documented and generously illustrated, this important contribution to the history of American culture is essential for the sports and American studies sections of all public and academic libraries. --Barry X. Miller, Library Journal

About the Author

John D. Fair is professor of history and chair of the Department of History and Geography at Georgia College & State University in Milledgville, Georgia. He is the author of two books on modern British history. He has competed in more than fifty Olympic and powerlifting meets, coached several teams, taught weight-training classes, staged meets, been a national referee, served on the national weightlifting committee, and even judged a Mr. America contest.

Product Details

• Paperback: 436 pages
• Publisher: Penn State Press (June 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271018550
• ISBN-13: 978-0271018553
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,150,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Info or snesation?, February 3, 2000

By 

Bobby K. (Riverside California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the Manly Culture of York Barbell (Paperback)

Once, when I was working out in the weight room at UCLA in the early 70's, someone called out, "The weight room is Mother!" And so it was, for those of us for whom working out had become a way of life. And if the weight room was "Mother", then Father was Bob Hoffman, who more than anyone else in my generation, popularized weight training for both athletes and the general public. Having been a disciple of Hoffman through his magazine, I had been thinking that a bio of him needed to be written (about 14 years after his death) when coincidentally Fair produced just such a book. The extent of Dr. Fair's research is impressive, especially about the era from the sixties onward, and his story of the degeneration of the US Olympic weightlifting team due to steroids and recreational drugs is particluarly compelling. Additionally, his debunking of the myth of Hoffman as a person was an eye-opener for me. The story of the Hoffman-Weieder wars is also interesting.

With regard to Hoffman however, the balance of the book may be a little off. While the details of Hoffman's sexual activity and his promotional quackery are interesting, I was disapponted not to see more about how Hoffman was as a coach. I have been told by a member of the York team that Hoffman was very good as a coach, but this did not come through for me in the book. Fair attributes the greatness of the post-war team to the socialization at York and the fact that the weightlifters were from immigrant families. He should have gotten more material from the lifters of that era and stuck more to history and biography; his psychologically-based simplifications detract from the book because he puts too much credence in them. All in all, it's a good book; it's not the last word on Hoffman, however.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN............, July 3, 2008

By 

Jim Fontes (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the Manly Culture of York Barbell (Paperback)

I grew up in a household in which I was not welcome. Two individuals made my life bearable: Mickey Mantle and Bob Hoffman! From the late fifties through the late sixties I was a welterweight lifter out of Oakland, California. I enjoyed a small measure of success. I can recall being at the newsstand each month on the appropriate day to search the racks for the latest Strength and Health. I would read those magazines from cover to cover, every word, and would do so several times before the next issue was released. And throughout those years I certainly bought more than my share of York equipment.
Someone once said something to the effect that if you have an idol look a little closer and you will see that you are selling yourself short. The author, Mr. Fair, looks a little closer, but not unfairly, in my opinion. Growing up with Strength and Health I was not aware of many of Mr. Hoffman's shortcomings. And now that I know them, nothing has changed. For Hoffman is still number one in my book. In my view the character flaws only serve to humanize him. Something wrong with that? How many of you who've submitted critical reviews regarding Hoffman have lived steller lives? How many of you have built sucessful businesses from the ground up? And most importantly, How many of you have MADE A DIFFERENCE in the lives of so many? The silence is deafening. Regarding the book, I find it well written. Also of great interest to me are the photos of the luminaries of that era. I am thankful that this book was written, and I am pleased to have read it. Mr. Fair, how about bios on some of the high profile people of the "weight game", Grimek, Reeves, etc?

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hoffman did it for his ego alone, July 25, 2002

By 

John Toth (Renton, Wa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the Manly Culture of York Barbell (Paperback)

Finally we know the truth about Bob Hoffman. That he didn't work out. Didn't eat right and was nowhere near as healthy (actually pretty unhealthy) as he pretended to be.We also discover that Hoffman was not as well liked even among the weightlifters as we had thought.In fact, the whole thing was probably just used by Hoffman as a tax writeoff to offset his successful oil burner business. And in the end, Hoffman did writeoff a lot of the people that he used in his magazines to promote his ridiculously over rated products.Yeah, John D. Fair is correct, Hoffman did it for his ego alone.