‘What Demobilised Men Want’

Abstract

First published in 1899, Health and Strength magazine was one of Britain's most popular and widely circulated physical culture magazines. Loosely defined as a late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century concern with the ideological and commercial cultivation of the body, physical culture, as a health phenomenon, enjoyed a great deal of public support and interest during these decades. Studying Health and Strength magazine in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, this chapter examines the renegotiation and reformulation of British bodies as promoted in the magazine. The chapter discusses two problems faced by Health and Strength writers, namely how does one rebuild bodies that have been permanently mutilated by war, while simultaneously encouraging younger men to increase, and revel in, their vitality. As a commentary on sport, war and the body, the chapter highlights the embodied sense of shock, shame, but also optimism, found in post-war physical culture debates.