Episode · Behind the Bastards · 2021-11-09
Books mentioned on Part One: How the First Fitness Influencer Doomed Us All
Robert is joined by Caitlin Durante to discuss Bernarr MacFadden. FOOTNOTES: http://web.
Robert Evans discussed Mr. America by Mark Adams, How to Get Strong and how to Stay So by William Blaikie, The Athlete's Conquest by Bernarr Macfadden, and Marriage a Lifelong Honeymoon by Bernarr Macfadden.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Mr. America
Mr.
Discussed“And I'm going to quote from the biography Mr. America, which is about Bernard McFaden. One morning, not long after Bernard had recovered, his mother took him to St. Louis.”
Where to get it
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How to Get Strong and how to Stay So
Discussed“One of the people who takes it on is a guy named William Blakey. Now in 1879 Blakey writes a book titled How to Get Strong and How to Stay So which is not a bad title for an exercise book.”
Where to get it
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The Athlete's Conquest
Discussed“He takes Jane Austin and replaces like the lady protagonist with like a jack dude. And the book is titled The Athletes Conquest. So again, let me I mean you can guess you can guess what's in that book, right?”
Where to get it
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Marriage a Lifelong Honeymoon
Discussed“And again, this is his second marriage. Bernard writes a book, which is his 10th book in the last 5 years. He's just writing books all the goddamn time now. And and he's it sounds like he's pivoted from plagiarizing Jane Austin to mostly just like fitness and self-help.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The Secret Garden
“Like if you were sick, they would say, Well, you need to hide in a room alone. Like, don't go outside. Stay in this like quiet, dark, dank room, and never leave for years. Um, which you might recognize as bad for people. Look, I've seen The Secret Garden, and I know that that's not how that works.”
Passing Pride and Prejudice
“Who who doesn't plagiarize a little bit of I mean, my novel is just a plagiarism of Jane Austin. and mine too. And yeah, everybody's Look, there's only been one book written and it's I I don't remember any Jane Austin titles. Fill it in. Finish the joke for me. Pride and Prejudice.”
Passing The Jungle
“He quickly developed a fan base from the Wall Street Journal. Quote, he attracted a following of serious people that included, among others, Upton Sinclair, the guy who wrote The Jungle, who contributed articles to physical culture.”