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{{short description|American physical culturist and magazine publisher (1868–1955)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Bernarr Macfadden
| image         = Bernarr Macfadden c1910.jpg
| caption       = Macfadden, {{circa|1910}}
| birth_name    = Bernard Adolphus McFadden<ref name=brit>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bernarr-Macfadden Bernarr Macfadden]. Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref>
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1868|08|16}}<ref name=brit />
| birth_place   = [[Mill Spring, Missouri]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1955|10|12|1868|08|16}}<ref name=brit />
| death_place   = [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], U.S.<ref name=brit />
| resting_place = [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]]
| nationality   = American
| occupation    = Bodybuilder, author, magazine publisher
| known_for     = Founder of [[Macfadden Publications]]
| signature     = Autograph Bernarr Macfadden.svg
}}

'''Bernarr Macfadden''' (born '''Bernard Adolphus McFadden''', August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of [[physical culture]],<ref name=brit /> a combination of [[bodybuilding]] with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running [[magazine]] [[publishing]] company [[Macfadden Communications Group|Macfadden Publications]].

== Biography ==

=== Early life ===
Born in [[Mill Spring, Missouri]], Macfadden changed his first and last names to give them a greater appearance of strength.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Macfadden|first1=Mary|last2=Gauvreau|first2=Emile|title=Dumbbells and Carrot Strips: the Story of Bernarr Macfadden|location=New York|publisher=Holt|year=1953}}</ref> He thought "Bernarr" sounded like the roar of a lion, and that "Macfadden" was a more masculine spelling of his last name.

As a young child, Macfadden was weak and sickly. After being orphaned by the time he was 11, he was placed with a farmer and began working on the farm. He claimed that hard work and wholesome food on the farm turned him into a strong and fit boy. When he was 13, however, he moved to [[St. Louis]] and took a desk job. Quickly his health reverted again and by 16 he described himself as a "physical wreck". He started exercising again with [[dumbbells]], walking up to six miles a day with a lead weight in his clothes, and he became a [[vegetarian]]. He claimed to quickly regain his previous health.<ref>{{cite book

| title = Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader
| publisher = Bathroom Readers Press
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-1-59223-093-8
| pages = 213–216
| chapter = Dustbin of History: Bernarr Macfadden
| title-link = Uncle John's Bathroom Reader
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/true-story-bernard-macfadden|title = The True Story of Bernard Macfadden &#124; AMERICAN HERITAGE}}</ref>

=== Publishing and writings ===

In 1899, Macfadden founded ''Physical Culture'' (1899–1951?),<ref name="onlinebooks/physicalculture">{{cite web |title=Physical Culture archives (1899–1948)|url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=physicalculture |website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu |access-date=17 August 2023}}</ref><ref name="archivessearch.bsu.edu/3226">{{cite web |title=Collection: Physical Culture magazine |url=https://archivessearch.bsu.edu/repositories/7/resources/3226 |website=Archives and Special Collections |publisher=Ball State University |access-date=17 August 2023 |quote=The collection includes 97 issues of Physical Culture magazine dated between February 1910 and August–September 1951.}}</ref><ref name="starkcenter/physical-culture">{{cite web |title=Physical Culture, 1899-1910 |url=https://starkcenter.org/exhibits/type/books/physical-culture/ |website=[[H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports]] |publisher=[[University of Texas at Austin]] |access-date=17 August 2023}}</ref> an American magazine on bodybuilding, health, and fitness,<ref name="saturdayeveningpost/original-wellness-guru">{{cite news |last1=Gilmore |first1=Nicholas |title=Nudity, Fasting, and Eyelid Workouts: The Original Wellness Guru |url=https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/08/nudity-fasting-eyelid-workouts-original-wellness-guru/ |access-date=17 August 2023 |work=The Saturday Evening Post |date=16 August 2018}}</ref> and was editor up to the August 1912 issue.<ref name="newyorker/1950/physical-culture">{{cite magazine |last1=Taylor |first1=Robert Lewis |title=Physical Culture Sink or Swim |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1950/10/14/physical-culture-sink-or-swim |access-date=17 August 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=6 October 1950}}</ref><ref name="DAHS/bernarr-macfadden">{{cite web |title=Bernarr Macfadden |url=https://dansvilleareahistoricalsociety.org/bernarr-macfadden/ |website=Dansville Area Historical Society |access-date=17 August 2023}}</ref>

In May 1919, readers letters  to ''Physical Culture'' magazine which told their personal stories resulted in a new magazine, ''True Story'',<ref name="bernarrmacfadden/5">{{cite web |title=Publishing Empire |url=https://www.bernarrmacfadden.com/macfadden5.html |website=Bernarr Macfadden .com |access-date=17 August 2023}}</ref> and, later, ''[[True Detective (magazine)|True Detective]]'', ''[[True Story (magazine)|True Story]]'', ''[[True Romance (magazine)]]''.

Aided by long-time Supervising Editor [[Fulton Oursler]], Macfadden eventually grew a publishing empire, including ''[[Liberty (1924–1950)|Liberty]]'', ''Dream World'', ''Ghost Stories'', the once-familiar movie magazine ''[[Photoplay]]'', and the [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] newspaper, ''[[New York Graphic|The New York Evening Graphic]]''. Macfadden's magazines included ''[[SPORT (magazine)|SPORT]]'', a preeminent [[sports]] magazine prior to [[Time Inc.]]'s ''[[Sports Illustrated]].''

''Ghost Stories'' was a nod in the direction of the rapidly growing field of [[pulp magazine]]s, though it was a large-size magazine that preserved Macfadden's confessional style for most of its stories.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Locke|editor-first=John|title=Ghost Stories: The Magazine and Its Makers: Volumes 1 & 2|publisher=Off-Trail Publications|date=2010}}</ref> In 1928, Macfadden made more overt moves into the pulps with, for example, ''Red Blooded Stories'' (1928–29), ''Flying Stories'' (1928–29), and ''Tales of Danger and Daring'' (1929). These were all unsuccessful. In 1929, Macfadden underwrote [[Harold Hersey]]'s pulp chain, the [[Good Story Magazine Company]]. Macfadden titles like ''Ghost Stories'' and ''Flying Stories'' continued as Good Story publications. Other intended Macfadden pulps, like ''[[Thrills of the Jungle]]'' (1929) and ''[[Love and War Stories]]'' (1930), originated as Good Story magazines. In 1931, Macfadden purchased the assets of the Mackinnon-Fly magazine publishers, which gave him the pioneering sci-fi pulp [[Amazing Stories]], and several other titles; they were published under the Teck Publications imprint. This apparently made Good Story expendable and financial support was withdrawn almost immediately. The Teck titles lasted under Macfadden control until being sold in the late '30s, after which Macfadden was absent from the pulp field.

Macfadden also contributed to many articles and books including ''The Virile Powers of Superb Manhood'' (1900), ''MacFadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture'' (1911–1912), ''Fasting for Health'' (1923), and ''The Milk Diet'' (1923).

=== Health advocacy ===
[[File:Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bernar MacFadden in Warm Springs, Georgia - NARA - 196721.jpg|thumb|With [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in [[Warm Springs, Georgia]], 1931]]

Macfadden popularized the practice of [[fasting]] that previously had been associated with illnesses such as [[anorexia nervosa]].<ref name="griffith">{{cite journal |last=Griffith|first=Ruth Marie |title=Apostles of abstinence: Fasting and masculinity during the Progressive Era |journal=[[American Quarterly]] |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=599–638 |pmid=16850570|year=2000 |doi=10.1353/aq.2000.0047|s2cid=40920930 }}</ref> He felt strongly that fasting was one of the surest ways to physical health. Many of his subjects would fast for a week to rejuvenate their body. He claimed that through fasting "a person could exercise unqualified control over virtually all types of disease while revealing a degree of strength and stamina such as would put others to shame". He saw fasting as an instrument with which to prove a man's superiority over other men.

Macfadden had photographs of himself taken before and after fasts to demonstrate their positive effects on the body. For example, one photograph showed Macfadden lifting a 100-pound dumbbell over his head immediately after a seven-day fast. Macfadden acknowledged the difficulties of fasting and did not support it as an ascetic practice, but rather because he believed its ultimate benefits outweighed its costs.<ref name="griffith" />

He was particularly opposed to the consumption of white bread, which he called the "staff of death".<ref name="Bread">{{cite web | url=http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/04/a_review_of_white_bread_a_new_book_about_our_nation_s_fear_of_flour_.single.html | title=White Bread Kills | publisher=Slate | access-date=November 18, 2012 | last=Copeland|first=Libby | date=2012-04-06 }}</ref>

Macfadden established many "healthatoriums" in the eastern and midwestern states. These institutions offered educational programs, such as "The Physical Culture Training School". Although he gained his reputation for physical culture and fitness, he gained much notoriety for his views on sexual behavior. He viewed intercourse as a healthy activity and not solely a procreative one; this was a different attitude than most physicians had at the time. He also attempted to found a "Physical Culture City" in [[Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey]], which folded after a few years and became the vacation-cabin neighborhood, and, later, suburban development of Outcalt.  The home of [[John Warne Herbert Jr.]] in [[Helmetta, New Jersey]] was designated as "Physical Culture City’s Health Home No.1."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hagan |first=Joanna |date=2024-10-27 |title=Helmetta’s Heart |url=https://www.preservationnj.org/post/helmetta-s-heart |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Preservation NJ |language=en}}</ref>

Nicknamed "Body Love Macfadden" by ''[[Time Magazine|Time]]'' – a moniker he detested – he was branded a "kook" and a charlatan by many, arrested on obscenity charges{{why|date=August 2024}}, and denounced by the medical establishment. Throughout his life, he campaigned tirelessly against "pill-pushers", processed foods, and prudery.

Macfadden made an unsuccessful attempt to found a religion, "cosmotarianism", based on physical culture.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ernst|first=Robert|year=1991|title=Weakness Is a Crime: The Life of Bernarr Macfadden|publisher=Syracuse University Press|pages=118, 179}}</ref> He claimed that his regimen would enable him to reach the age of 150.

<gallery mode="packed" widths="220px" heights="290px">
Harvard Theatre Collection - Bernarr Macfadden TCS 1.2400.jpg|{{circa|1905}}
Bernarr Macfadden 1923.jpg|In 1923
</gallery>

=== Other enterprises ===

[[File:Bernarr Macfadden 1951.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Macfadden skydiving in 1951]]
At the peak of his career, Macfadden owned several hotels and a major building in [[Dansville, Livingston County, New York|Dansville, New York]]. He also opened a restaurant in New York City in 1902 called Physical Culture, which was one of the city's first vegetarian venues. Physical Culture vegetarian restaurants were established in other cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago. By 1911, there were twenty such restaurants. Macfadden was a proponent of [[raw foodism]] and a follower of [[Sylvester Graham]]'s philosophies.<ref>{{cite book|title=Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets|first1=Brenda, RD|last1=Davis|first2=Vesanto, MS, RD|last2=Melina|date=2010}}</ref>

His Macfadden Foundation established two boarding schools for young boys and girls in [[Westchester County, New York]]: the Macfadden School in [[Briarcliff Manor]] (Scarborough), originally for ages 4 – 12,<ref>The Daily News, 27 Apr 1940, p. 1</ref> and the Tarrytown School in [[Tarrytown, New York|Tarrytown]]. On March 7, 1943, the advertisement in ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' for the Tarrytown School read: "To Meet the Needs of a Nation at War". The boys at the Tarrytown School wore uniforms and were subject to military-type discipline and corporal punishment. The Macfadden School operated from 1936<ref>The Daily News, 27 Apr 1940, p.1</ref> to 1950,<ref>Physical Culture magazine, September 1939, p. 73</ref><ref>The Herald Statesman, 22 Aug 1950,</ref><ref>Citizen Register, 22 Aug 1950, p. 1, 2</ref> and the Tarrytown School operated from 1943 to 1954.<ref>Westchester County Deed Book (liber 5399, page 315)</ref><ref>New York Times Magazine, 7 Mar 1943, p. 39</ref>

<gallery> Brochure for Macfadden Tarrytown School - For Parents.jpg|Page from Tarrytown School Brochure

Boys in dress uniform, 1948 or 1949.jpg|Boys in dress uniform, 1948 or 1949, Macfadden's Tarrytown School

grad2.jpg|Graduation exercises, June 1953, Macfadden's Tarrytown School

</gallery>

The Macfadden Foundation also operated Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee.<ref>Las Vegas Review Journal, 15 Feb 1951</ref> The foundation began in 1931 when he gave $50 million to it.<ref>Shenectady Gazette, 25 September 1931, p. 17</ref><ref>Dansville Express and Advertiser, 2 October 1931, p. 7</ref>

=== Personal life ===
[[File:Portrait of Bernarr Macfadden in Sarasota, Florida.jpg|thumb|Macfadden in 1948]]
Macfadden was married four times and had eight children. His son Jack appeared on [[Groucho Marx]]'s show ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'' (December 31, 1953) and talked about his father, who was then 84 years old.

He met his third wife, Mary Williamson Macfadden, in England when she won a contest "for the most perfect specimen of England womanhood," sponsored by Macfadden; she was a champion British swimmer.<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://facstaff.elon.edu/dcopeland/mhm/mhmjour13-2.pdf |title=The Feminism of Bernarr Macfadden: Physical Culture Magazine and the Empowerment of Women |journal=Media History Monographs|last=Endres|first=Kathleen L. |year=2011| volume=13| number=2 | page=3 |access-date=February 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Burstyn |first=Joan N. |title=Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women | chapter= Biographies: 1866–1920, Macfadden |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8156-0418-1 |pages=167–168}}</ref><ref name="Mighty">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0a4OBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA87
|last=Bennett |first=Jim |title=Mighty Macfadden: An Amazing Life Story |publisher=lulu.com |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-300-54172-1}}</ref> The couple had eight children: Helen, Byrne, Byrnece, Beulah, Beverly, Brewster, Berwyn, and Braunda.<ref name="Mighty" /> Bernarr and Mary separated in 1932, and they divorced in 1946.<ref name="Mighty" />

Macfadden had ambitions for political office. He sought election as [[Mayor of New York City]], [[United States Senate|US Senator]] from [[Florida]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Watson|first1=Bruce|title=The Strange Tale of a World-Changing Fitness and Sleaze Titan|url=http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a23610/strange-tale-historic-fitness-guru-bernarr-macfadden/|website=www.esquire.com|publisher=Esquire|date=Sep 9, 2013}}</ref> and even US president.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Daugherty |first1=Greg |date=October 16, 2015 |title=Meet the Wackiest Millionaire Ever to Run for President |url=https://money.com/wackiest-millionaire-ever-run-president/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201013614/https://money.com/wackiest-millionaire-ever-run-president/ |archive-date=December 1, 2021 |website=Money.com }}</ref>

Two of Macfadden's children{{which|date=August 2024}} died for lack of medical care, as Macfadden viewed all doctors as quacks.<ref name="cohen">{{cite book|last=Cohen | first=Daniel | year=2000 | publisher=Twenty-First Century Books | title=Yellow Journalism | isbn=0761315020 | page=56}}</ref> When one of his daughters died of a heart condition, he remarked, "It's better she's gone; she only would have disgraced me."<ref name="One Summer">{{cite book|last1=Bryson|first1=Bill|title=One Summer: America, 1927 |date=2014 |publisher=Anchor |isbn=978-0-7679-1941-8|page=29}}</ref>

=== Death and legacy ===
Macfadden died aged 87 in 1955 after refusing medical treatment for a digestive disorder.<ref name=brit /> He is interred in [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx)|Woodlawn Cemetery]] in The [[The Bronx|Bronx]], New York City.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Jim |title=Muscles, Sex, Money, & Fame|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jWmDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT487|date= 2016|isbn=978-1-365-55689-0|pages=487–|publisher=Lulu.com }}</ref> Upon his death, [[Edward Longstreet Bodin]] became the president of the Bernarr Macfadden Foundation.

== Critical reception ==
Macfadden has drawn criticism for suggesting in his books that readers not consult any professional [[physician]]. Macfadden supported unorthodox ideas that are widely derided as [[quackery]], such as [[grape therapy]] supposedly healing [[cancer]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rosengren|first=William R.|date=1980|title=Sociology of Medicine: Diversity, Conflict, and Change|publisher=Harper & Row|page=213}}</ref><ref>[[Martin Gardner|Gardner, Martin]]. (2012 edition, originally published in 1957). ''[[Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science]]''. Dover Publications. pp. 186–192. {{ISBN|0-486-20394-8}}</ref>

[[Morris Fishbein]] wrote that "In his campaign, Bernarr Macfadden aligned himself with the border-line cultists that oppose scientific medicine and devote themselves to the promotion of some single conception of disease causation, prevention, and treatment."<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Morris Fishbein|last=Fishbein|first=Morris|date=1925|title=The Medical Follies: An Analysis of the Foibles of Some Healing Cults|publisher=Boni & Liveright|page=175}}</ref>

Some of Macfadden's publications also drew criticism for their [[erotic]] and sexual content.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=William R.|date=1989|title=Body Love: The Amazing Career of Bernarr Macfadden|publisher=Bowling Green State University Press|page=106|isbn=0-87972-463-3}}</ref> He was targeted by the [[New York Society for the Suppression of Vice|Society for the Suppression of Vice]] for producing "pornographic" posters to promote one of his Physical Culture Exhibitions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Todd |first1=Jan |title=Bernarr Macfadden: Reformer of Feminine Form |journal=Journal of Sport History |date=1987 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=61–75 |pmid=11617513 }}</ref>

Macfadden's legacy after his death has largely been tarnished by details{{clarify|date=August 2024}} of his private life. [[James Whorton]], PhD, notes that the glamorous and eccentric character of Macfadden's life has led to a predilection for "the amusing tale or shocking incident" in describing it. Whorton argued that this distracts from Macfadden's real beliefs and significance, causing research to be directed "to the outer person, to actions rather than motives."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Whorton |first1=James |title=Weakness is a Crime: The Life of Bernarr Macfadden |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |date=1991 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=599–600}}</ref>

== Partial bibliography ==
Macfadden wrote over 100 books. This is a partial list of titles:
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{cite book|title=Physical Training|year=1900|url=https://archive.org/details/macfaddensphysic00macf/}}
* {{cite book|title=Fasting, Hydropathy, and Exercise|year=1900|url=https://archive.org/details/39002086348480.med.yale.edu/}}
* {{cite book|title=Virile Powers of Superb Manhood|year=1900|publisher=New York, Physical culture publishing company|url=https://archive.org/details/virilepowersofsu00macf/}}
* {{cite book|title=Power and Beauty of Superb Womanhood|year=1901|url=https://archive.org/details/powerbeautyofsup00macf/}}
* {{cite book|title=Strength from Eating|year=1901|url=https://archive.org/details/b28058409/}}
* {{cite book|title=Strong Eyes|year=1901|publisher=New York, Physical culture publishing co.|url=https://archive.org/details/strongeyeshowwea00macfrich}}
* {{cite book|title=Physical Culture Cook Book|year=1901|url=https://archive.org/details/physicalculturec00rich/|others=with Mary Richardson, assisted by George Propheter}}
* {{cite book|title=Natural Cure for Rupture|year=1902|url=https://archive.org/details/b28067150}}
* {{cite book|title=Vaccination Superstition|year=1902}}
* {{cite book|title=Marriage: a Lifelong Honeymoon|year=1903|url=https://archive.org/details/b28101959}}
* {{cite book|title=Building of Vital Power|year=1904|url=https://archive.org/details/buildingofvitalp00macfrich/}}
* {{cite book|title=Creative and Sexual Science|year=1904}}
* {{cite book|title=Health, Beauty, and Sexuality|year=1904|url=https://archive.org/details/b28138077/}}
* {{cite book|title=How Success Is Won|year=1904|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.202108}}
* {{cite book|title=A Perfect Beauty|year=1904}}
* {{cite book|title=Physical Culture for Babies|year=1904|url=https://archive.org/details/physicalculturef00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=A Strenuous Lover|year=1904|url=https://archive.org/details/strenuousloverro00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Muscular Power and Beauty|year=1906}}
* {{cite book|title=Macfadden Prosecution: A Curious Story of Wrong and Oppression|year=1908}}
* {{cite book|title=Vitality Supreme|year=1915|publisher=New York City, Physical Culture Publishing Co|url=https://archive.org/details/vitalitysupreme00macf/}}
* {{cite book|title=Brain Energy|year=1916}}
* {{cite book|title=Manhood and Marriage|year=1916|publisher=New York city, Physical culture publishing co|url=https://archive.org/details/manhoodmarriage00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Womanhood and Marriage|year=1918|url=https://archive.org/details/womanhoodmarriag00macfiala}}
* {{cite book|title=Strengthening the Eyes|year=1918|url=https://archive.org/details/strengtheningeye00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Making Old Bodies Young|year=1919|publisher=New York, Physical culture publishing company|url=https://archive.org/details/makingoldbodiesy00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Truth About Tobacco|year=1921}}
* {{cite book|title=The Miracle of Milk|year=1923}}
* {{cite book|title=Fasting for Health|year=1923|publisher=New York, Macfadden publications|url=https://archive.org/details/fastingforhealth00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Constipation: Its Cause, Effect, and Treatment|year=1924|publisher=New York, Macfadden publications|url=https://archive.org/details/constipationitsc00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=How to Raise a Strong Baby|year=1924}}
* {{cite book|title=Walking Cure, Pep and Power from Walking – How to Cure Disease|year=1924}}
* {{cite book|title=Hair Culture|year=1921}}
* {{cite book|title=Diabetes: Its Cause, Nature and Treatment|year=1925}}
* {{cite book|title=Headaches: How Caused and How Cured|year=1925|publisher=New York, Macfadden publications|url=https://archive.org/details/headacheshowcaus00macf|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|title=Strengthening the Spine|year=1925}}
* {{cite book|title=Tooth Troubles|year=1925}}
* {{cite book|title=Asthma and Hay Fever|year=1926}}
* {{cite book|title=Colds, Coughs, and Catarrh|year=1926|publisher=New York, Macfadden Publications|url=https://archive.org/details/coldscoughscatar00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Foot Troubles|year=1926}}
* {{cite book|title=Predetermine Your Baby's Sex|year=1926}}
* {{cite book|title=Rheumatism, Its Cause, Nature and Treatment|year=1926}}
* {{cite book|title=Skin Troubles|year=1927|publisher=New York, Macfadden publications|url=https://archive.org/details/skintroublesthei00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Digestive Troubles|year=1928}}
* {{cite book|title=Talks to a Young Man About Sex|year=1928}}
* {{cite book|title=Tuberculosis|year=1929|url=https://archive.org/details/tuberculosisitsc00macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Home Health Manual|year=1930}}
* {{cite book|title=After 40 – What?|year=1935}}
* {{cite book|title=Practical Birth Control|year=1935}}
* {{cite book|title=Woman's Sex Life|year=1935}}
* {{cite book|title=How to Gain Weight|year=1936}}
* {{cite book|title=How to Reduce Weight|year=1936}}
* {{cite book|title=Be Married and Like It|year=1937}}
* {{cite book|title=Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture|year=1920|volume=1|publisher=New York city, Physical culture publishing company|url=https://archive.org/details/macfaddensencycl01macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture|year=1920|volume=2|publisher=New York city, Physical culture publishing company|url=https://archive.org/details/macfaddensencycl02macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture|year=1920|volume=3|publisher=New York city, Physical culture publishing company|url=https://archive.org/details/macfaddensencycl03macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture|year=1920|volume=4|publisher=New York city, Physical culture publishing company|url=https://archive.org/details/macfaddensencycl04macf}}
* {{cite book|title=Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture|year=1920|volume=5|publisher=New York city, Physical culture publishing company|url=https://archive.org/details/macfaddensencycl05macf}}
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[Bates method]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Adams, Mark. ''Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet.'' NY: HarperCollins, 2009.
* Deutsch, Ronald M. ''The Nuts Among the Berries.'' New York: Ballantine Books, rev. ed. 1967.
* Endres, Kathleen L. [http://blogs.elon.edu/mhm/files/2017/03/mhmjour13-2.pdf "The Feminism of Bernarr Macfadden: Physical Culture Magazine and the Empowerment of Women"]. ''Media History Monographs''. Vol. 13, No. 2 (2011) {{ISSN| 1940-8862}} [[Elon University]]
* Ernst, Robert. ''Weakness Is a Crime: The Life of Bernarr Macfadden.'' Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1991.
* Fishbein, Morris. ''The Medical Follies: An Analysis of the Foibles of Some Healing Cults, including Osteopathy, Homeopathy, Chiropractic, and the Electronic Reactions of Abrams, with Essays on the Anti-Vivisectionists, Health Legislation, Physical Culture, Birth Control, and Rejuvenation.'' NY: Boni & Liveright, 1925.
* Fitzpatrick, Shanon. ''[https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674268012 True Story: How a Pulp Empire Remade Mass Media]''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,  2022.
* Hunt, William R. ''Body Love: The Amazing Career of Bernarr Macfadden.'' Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1989.
* Oursler, Fulton. ''The True Story of Bernarr Macfadden.'' NY: Lewis Copeland Company, 1929.
* Stuart, John, [https://archive.org/details/360519StuartMacfaddenfromporntopolitics "Bernarr Macfadden: From Pornography to Politics,"] ''The New Masses,'' May 19, 1936, pp.&nbsp;8–11.
* Warner, Chas W. (1934). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015063162377&view=1up&seq=91 ''Bernarr Macfadden'']. In ''Quacks''. Jackson, Mississippi.
* Wood, Clement. ''Bernarr Macfadden: A Study in Success.'' NY: Lewis Copeland Company, 1929.

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category|Bernarr Macfadden}}
* [http://www.bernarrmacfadden.com/ BernarrMacfadden.com]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=8570| name=Bernarr Macfadden}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Bernarr Macfadden}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=enJ_Z9yujL4C&dq=Emile+Gauvreau&pg=PA99 My Last Million Readers by Emile Gauvreau]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060909025410/http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Macfadden/macfadden-intro.htm Bernarr Macfadden, the Father of Physical Culture]
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19208 Project Gutenberg: ''Vitality Supreme'' (1915) by Bernarr Macfadden]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200222000306/http://www.magazineart.org:80/main.php/v/healthandfitness/physicalculture Online archive] of the covers of ''Physical Culture'' magazine
* [http://www.milk-diet.com/classics/macfadden/macfaddenmain.html "The Milk Diet: How to Use the Milk Diet Scientifically at Home"] (1923) by Bernarr Macfadden
* [https://archives.starkcenter.org/omeka/cou-pc Ottley Coulter Collection] provides digital access to ''Physical Culture'' published from 1899 to 1910.
* [http://dmr.bsu.edu/cdm4/collection.php?CISOROOT=/PhyCul The Physical Culture Magazine collection] provides electronic access to editions of ''Physical Culture'' from 1910 to 1948.

{{Physical culture}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macfadden, Bernarr}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:American male bodybuilders]]
[[Category:American exercise and fitness writers]]
[[Category:American exercise instructors]]
[[Category:American health and wellness writers]]
[[Category:American magazine founders]]
[[Category:American nutritionists]]
[[Category:Bates method]]
[[Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)]]
[[Category:Fasting advocates]]
[[Category:People associated with physical culture]]
[[Category:People from Englewood, New Jersey]]
[[Category:People from Sedalia, Missouri]]
[[Category:Pseudoscientific diet advocates]]