Dissatisfied with a Victorian culture focused on domesticity and threatened by physical decline in sedentary office jobs, American men in the late nineteenth century sought masculine company in fraternal lodges and engaged in exercise to invigorate their bodies. One form of this new manly culture, developed out of the Protestant churches, was known as muscular Christianity. In this fascinating study, Clifford Putney details how Protestant leaders promoted competitive sports and physical education to create an ideal of Christian manliness.
- ISBN10 0674011252
- ISBN13 9780674011250
- Publish Date 30 May 2003 (first published 30 November 2001)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Harvard University Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 310
- Language English