Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder

Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder

Author	Samuel Wilson Fussell
Language	English
Subject	Bodybuilding
Publisher	Poseidon Press
Publication date	1991
Publication place	United States
ISBN	9780671701956

Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder is a 1991 non-fiction book by Samuel Wilson Fussell. It describes Fussell's time as a bodybuilder over four years, during which he takes steroids.

Publishers Weekly described it as "A book of minor significance, but enjoyable reading."

Camille Paglia wrote, "Fussell has a great eye for eccentric characters and a great ear for the crackling vernacular. But too little time has passed for him to have psychological perspective on his profoundly self-altering experience.

Musical adaptation

The book was considered for musical adaptation by Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim and librettist James Lapine as a one-act companion piece to Sondheim's Passion, but Sondheim's involvement ended as Passion grew into a full-length show; he suggested Lapine continue the project with another composer. Lapine subsequently completed the piece as a full-length musical with composer William Finn and lyricist Ellen Fitzhugh; it was workshopped in New York in 1995 and received its world premiere at Chicago's Pegasus Players in 2001.

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