Brother Iron, Sister Steel

A Bodybuilder's Book
Review by Julian Schmidt
Flex Magazine, May, 2001

Brother, What a Book
Dave Draper, author, stuns the literary world with "Brother Iron, Sister Steel"

Dave Draper was kissed by fate as no one in bodybuilding can ever again hope to be. When he heard his calling more than 15,000 workouts ago, it was from an unknown voice that promised nothing but loneliness, but Dave didn't hesitate. It was soul stirring, so he followed it, from New Jersey to Santa Monica, California. There, in the early '60s, he found his legend, not in the glamour and sunny beaches but in a benighted mudhole of a gym called "the Dungeon" that afforded him the solitude in which talents are best nurtured.

The world knows now that the most visible of those talents is Dave Draper the bodybuilder, the famous "Blond Bomber" who won the 1965 Mr. America title and established the immortal icon of the Southern California beach bodybuilder, and who reigns with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the duumvirate of the lifestyle (as "In the days of Arnold and Draper..."), and who reified every man's fantasy as Sharon Tate's love interest in the popular 1967 movie Don't Make Waves. What the world did not know is that, while Draper was publicly constructing his classical sweeping mass, he was privately ingravidating his imagination with poetic images and nurturing a writing ability that is even more sublime than his physique.

For that, civilization is forever in his debt. In his new book, "Brother Iron, Sister Steel," Draper shatters once and for all the stereotype that a bodybuilder can conjugate his linoleic acids but not his verbs.

"Serendipitously and coincidentally," writes Draper, on page 14, "I have achieved a place of recognition amongst a world of like-minds. I'm persuaded and compelled to write a book to teach, encourage, affirm; to share and compare notes, to clarify, to affect pause and consideration; to brighten mind and spirit and speed one along by slowing one down."

So much so, that after he takes his first steps into the Dungeon (the original Muscle Beach Gym in Santa Monica), on page 22, one hopes the journey will last forever: "A very long, steep and unsure staircase took me to a cavernous hole in the ground with crumbling plaster walls and a ceiling that leaked diluted beer from the old-timer's tavern above. Puddles of the stuff added charm to the dim atmosphere where three strategically placed 40-watt light bulbs gave art deco shadows to the rusting barbells, dumbbells, sagging milk crates and splintery handcrafted 2x4 benches."

Merely opening the book opens the floodgates of Draper's inimitable mind. Whether imparting training information, diet secrets, wisdom or memories, his style is as visceral as his workouts and as lyrical as his life.

A warning to muscleheads and eggheads alike: You'll get hooked on "Brother Iron, Sister Steel." In every word, Draper leaves the mark of his genius, and its effect is not unlike his own experience the night he became Mr. America at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1965: "There's a tremor, a stir of expectation, a charge in the air." Here, it lasts for 335 pages.

Brother Iron, Sister Steel sells for $24.95. Dave will be happy to sign the book to you (or to a friend if it's a gift)—you'll have a space to request this on the online order form. Click the order button to order Dave's book.
[ ORDER ]

Read an excerpt from Brother Iron, Sister Steel

Read the Dr. Ken Leistner review

Read the Bookideas.com review

Read the review from Fearless Book Reviews

Read what others are saying about
Brother Iron, Sister Steel