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Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the Challenge of Modernity in America, by John F. Kasson
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A remarkable new work from one of our premier historians
In his exciting new book, John F. Kasson examines the signs of crisis in American life a century ago, signs that new forces of modernity were affecting men's sense of who and what they really were.
When the Prussian-born Eugene Sandow, an international vaudeville star and bodybuilder, toured the United States in the 1890s, Florenz Ziegfeld cannily presented him as the "Perfect Man," representing both an ancient ideal of manhood and a modern commodity extolling self-development and self-fulfillment. Then, when Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan swung down a vine into the public eye in 1912, the fantasy of a perfect white Anglo-Saxon male was taken further, escaping the confines of civilization but reasserting its values, beating his chest and bellowing his triumph to the world. With Harry Houdini, the dream of escape was literally embodied in spectacular performances in which he triumphed over every kind of threat to masculine integrity -- bondage, imprisonment, insanity, and death. Kasson's liberally illustrated and persuasively argued study analyzes the themes linking these figures and places them in their rich historical and cultural context. Concern with the white male body -- with exhibiting it and with the perils to it --reached a climax in World War I, he suggests, and continues with us today.
- Sales Rank: #271128 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Hill and Wang
- Published on: 2002-07-02
- Released on: 2002-07-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .61" w x 5.50" l, .55 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
From Publishers Weekly
"Me Tarzan, You Jane. Me White, Me Better." That was the subtext not only of Edgar Rice Burroughs's novel Tarzan of the Apes, but also of magician and escape artist Harry Houdini's career, as well as that of vaudeville star and bodybuilder Eugene Sandow, according to this illuminating and engrossing cultural study of modern masculinity. Exploring how public presentations of the white male body, particularly in popular culture, reinforced both gender and racial superiority in the formative years of this century, Kasson (professor of American studies at the University of North Carolina) deftly weds these three major figures into a single narrative. Sandow embodied pure male form and strength in response to women gaining more social power, Kasson says, while Houdini represented the survival of the threatened male body in an age when the state was imposing more control over the individual. Meanwhile, the fictional Ape Man symbolized the inherent mastery of whiteness in an increasingly complex racialized world. Drawing on a wide range of sources including vaudeville programs and photos, newspaper reports, personal letters and autobiographies, as well as medical texts, historical accounts and cultural theory Kasson manages to weave in other (mostly forgotten, but historically important) figures such as Julian Eltinge, the world's most noted female impersonator, and spiritualist Mina Crandon, who was exposed as a fraud by Houdini. Witty and well written, this is a top-notch work of cultural history that can be read with great enjoyment by general readers and social historians alike.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Here is an unusual and thought-provoking look at the evolving concept of manhood from the late 19th century through the World War I era, when social, technological, business, and urban changes reshaped many traditional perceptions. Kasson (Rudeness and Civility: Manners in Nineteenth-Century Urban America) presents a well-researched study focusing upon three figures who underscored the male image in the public eye albeit a dominant, white-male image that remained throughout ensuing decades. Eugene Sandow, a bodybuilder and vaudevillian known as the Perfect Man, set a standard for physical perfection. Harry Houdini performed death-defying magic that emphasized triumph over physical circumstances at a time when technology seemed to threaten individuality. Through his novels, Edgar Rice Burroughs created ideal heroes, particularly in his "Tarzan" series, who imposed control and values upon wild and dangerous surroundings. Using these popular figures as a basis for discussion, Kasson examines a rich variety of trends, customs, values, and philosophies, offering unique commentary on issues pertaining to manliness in modern society. Numerous illustrations enhance this fluidly written text. For academic libraries and large sociology and history collections. Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Sex and danger sell. Kasson explores how audiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s were thrilled and titillated by the performances of Eugen Sandow, known as the "Perfect Man"; Harry Houdini, the daredevil escape artist and magician; and Edgar Rice Burroughs' creation Tarzan. All three male images effectively used the double-edged sword of sexuality between repression and exhibitionism that existed in society to avoid censors and entice men and women to the theater. Kasson theorizes it was this modernized concept of the white male, someone of European descent, the right class, amazing strength and ingenuity, and a touch exotic, that became a commodity that was displayed and sold to the public. He suggests this modernized ideal was formed and flourished in this period because the white male wanted to re-exert his superiority. It also afforded women and some men the opportunity to view and fanaticize about these scantily clad men exhibiting muscles, escaping bondage, and rescuing people in a way society deemed acceptable. Examples of these types of male idols still exist today in the personas of James Bond, the spy in Mission: Impossible, the Terminator, and other films. This excellent, thought-provoking book explains how it all started. Eileen Hardy
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
The idea of the perfect man, while subjective
By JMG Buyer
While men's history is assumed to be any history excluding women's, this book contains a very interesting, fresh take on the male identity crisis which occurred during the women's movement in the early years of immigration. The idea of the perfect man, while subjective, encapsulates this crisis and how Sandow, Houdini and Tarzan gave real life examples of what was an abstract idea prior to entrance into the public sphere.
This book goes into great details of the three main 'characters' of men who influenced generations of white, Protestant males and the societal expectations while showing the progression of said expectations to new levels.
For gender studies history students, this is a wonderful addition to the knowledge base required for such study.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Brilliant book
By Roc
A must read for every man(especially bodybuilders and sportsmen) to see how western society has developed into what the ancient greeks had arrived upon centuries ago. The blend of a good positive attitude about a man's mind and his physique and then the ramifications when a good thing can go bad if taken to extremes.
Scads of books have been written about the social evolution about women's roles in western society, but no one has rendered anything about men's perception of themselves especially about a man's image about himself as a sexual image in the media till this book came on the scene!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Five Stars
By David Strack
Great book for research.
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