Muscular Judaism

Todd Presner

"In this interdisciplinary history of the Jewish body, Presner probes the complex cultural and intellectual origins of the "muscle Jew." He argues that the Jewish body was radically reconfigured at the end of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century in light of modern European discourses of regeneration. Traversing sports history, medical literature, popular culture, aesthetics, gender studies, colonialism, and military history, Presner weaves together the story of the regeneration of the Jewish body." "Richly illustrated with rare archival material, Muscular Judaism will appeal to scholars and students of Jewish Studies as well as anyone interested in modern European history, gender studies, and histories of the body."--BOOK JACKET.