Coming of Age During Decades of Fitness in the American Midwest -- The Transatlantic Birth of the Physical Culture Publishing Company -- Circulating Physiques in an Age of Empire and Migration -- Building Up Consumers and Citizens through the Great War -- The Sensational Rise of Macfadden Publications, Inc. -- The Great Depression and the Macfadden Market -- International Issues, Foreign Editions, and the Global Popular -- From the World of Tomorrow to the American Century -- Epilogue: Pulp Empire Today.

"Focusing on Bernarr Macfadden, a bodybuilder turned publishing mogul, Shanon Fitzpatrick charts the rise and export of US mass media and consumer culture. Macfadden's magazines-featuring fitness tips, celebrity gossip, and sensational "true" stories-created an enduring editorial template and powered worldwide demand for interactive American media"--