Strong as Sandow
How Eugen Sandow Became the Strongest Man on Earth
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Little Friedrich Müller was a puny weakling who longed to be athletic and strong like the ancient Roman gladiators. He exercised and exercised. But he to no avail.
As a young man, he found himself under the tutelage of a professional body builder. Friedrich worked and worked. He changed his name to Eugen Sandow and he got bigger and stronger. Everyone wanted to become “as strong as Sandow.”
Inspired by his own experiences body-building, Don Tate tells the story of how Eugen Sandow changed the way people think about strength and exercise and made it a part of everyday life.
Backmatter includes more information about Sandow, suggestions for exercise, an author’s note, and a bibliography.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tate (Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions) sheds light on a fascinating Victorian-era celebrity: Eugen Sandow (born in 1867 Prussia as Friedrich Wilhelm M ller), who helped usher in competitive bodybuilding. "Skinny" and "feeble" as a child, Sandow was fascinated by the physiques of classical statues, and he parleyed that interest into a career, ditching university to become a circus acrobat before embracing a life as an artist's model, weightlifter, and performer. At one event in New York City, Sandow's feats of strength led to gasps and faints, though perhaps due to his physicality: "His chiseled muscles were things of beauty." Strong, crayonlike lines bring definition to those muscles in Tate's dynamic illustrations, and closing pages detail the not-always-reliable information available about Sandow, Tate's bodybuilding past, and exercises for young readers. Ages 6 9.
