Bernarr Macfadden. Be Married and Like It. New York: Macfadden Book Company, 1937.

pp. 124. Bound in faux leather cloth, with gilt title. Text and tables. Text block clean and crisp. Age toned pastedowns and flyleaves. Some bumping to edged. Overall GOOD condition. 

A single line is underlined in pencil-- "For this reason the dance-hall will often be found a poor place to pick out a mate" (27). 

Bernarr Macfadden (1868–1955) was a highly influential — and controversial — figure in early 20th-century American health culture. Best known as a pioneering advocate of physical culture, he promoted exercise, natural diets, fasting regimens, and vigorous personal hygiene at a time when mainstream medicine emphasized restraint and professional intervention. Through his widely circulated magazines and books, Macfadden encouraged people to take active responsibility for their bodies and lifestyles, positioning physical strength and wholesome living as foundations of public wellbeing. 

On issues of sexuality, Macfadden challenged the prevailing prudish norms of his era. He regarded sexual activity not merely as a means of procreation but as a healthy and integral aspect of life, advocating open discussion of sexual health and publishing titles on sexual ethics, women’s sex lives, and related topics. His publications often elicited criticism and were targeted by anti-vice campaigns for what contemporaries called erotic or explicit content.

In Be Married and Like It, Macfadden presents marriage as both a biological partnership and a hygienic institution, arguing that sexual compatibility, physical vitality, and frank communication are essential to marital happiness. Consistent with his broader philosophy, he frames sexual relations as natural, health-affirming, and central to emotional wellbeing, challenging lingering Victorian reticence around conjugal intimacy. At the same time, the book reflects the period’s interest in eugenics, bodily discipline, and gender complementarity, situating marital harmony within a larger program of self-improvement and social health. As such, the volume stands as a revealing artifact of 1930s American attitudes toward sex, marriage, and the body, mediated through one of the era’s most influential — and controversial — popular health reformers.

Despite his influence on early wellness culture, many of Macfadden’s ideas — especially his extreme fasting practices and distrust of professional medicine — were later dismissed as quackery by medical authorities.