Providing valuable insights into an element of European nationalism and modernist culture, this book explores the development of the 'Zionist body' as opposed to the traditional stereotype of the physically weak, intellectual Jew. It charts the cultural and intellectual history showing how the 'Muscle Jew' developed as a political symbol of national regeneration.

Introduction 1. The Origins of Muscular Judaism 2. The Rhetoric of Regeneration: "Clear Heads, Solid Stomachs, and Hard Muscles" 3. The Aesthetics of Regeneration: Martin Buber, E.M. Lilien, and the Aesthetic State 4. The Gymnastics of Regeneration: The Anatomo-Politics of the Jewish Body 5. The Land of Regeneration: Seafaring Jews and the Zionist Colonial Imaginary 6. Soldiers of Regeneration: The Military Might of Old-New Maccabees and the Great War. Concluding Remarks