For rare books on weightlifting see Bigsteel's rare
book page.
Muscle Beach
This book tells the story of the original
Muscle Beach in Santa Monica California in the 1940's. Many of
the great early bodybuilders are here, such as Jack LaLanne, Joe
Gold, Les Stockton, Pudgy Stockton and Vic Tanny. Muscle Beach
has new material about the originals on the beach and rare
photographs from this wonderful time in bodybuilding history.
Yet
another book with great photos and descriptions of the era of Muscle
Beach in Santa Monica California. Written by Bonnie Hearn and Harold
Zinkin, who was the first Mr. California and inventor of the
Universal gym machine.
This book shows the early history of
bodybuilding by detailing the life of Eugen Sandow, who many
consider the first bodybuilder. I own this book and
can highly recommend it, especially since it is one of the few scholarly
written history books in the field of bodybuilding.