Born Angelo Siciliano in 1893, Charles Atlas went on to become one of the iconic cultural symbols of the twentieth century, influencing generations of men to embrace the ideal of muscular masculinity. Through his popular mail-order courses, advertised in comic books and boys' magazines, Atlas outlined his method to transform oneself from scrawny to brawny and, in doing so, become "a real man."

Shrouded in advertising lore, the biography of Charles Atlas must be viewed with a certain amount of skepticism. According to the muscleman's promotional literature, in 1903 the young Angelo Siciliano, newly arrived in the United States, was a puny, ninety-seven-pound weakling and a favorite target of neighborhood bullies and, on occasion, family members. Swearing "never [to] allow any man on this earth to hurt me again," Siciliano set about building his body with a variety of training apparatuses. Despite his best efforts, however...