Robert A. Rushing is Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he also holds affiliate appointments in Media and Cinema Studies and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. He is author of Resisting Arrest: Detective Fiction and Popular Culture and co-editor of Mad Men, Mad World: Sex, Politics, Style, and the 1960s.

"One of the most unappreciated and oft-mocked genres of the 1960s, the Italian sword-and-sandal films are generally given the short shrift by critics, historians, and film fans alike. Therefore, anytime an entire book is devoted to the films of Hercules and his godlike brethren it is cause for celebration. [... Rushing] presents a fascinating historical overview of the genre."(Cinema Retro) Despite the broad swath of the cultural terrain covered, the book presents a meaningful analysis of the peplum genre's longitudinal engagement with nationalist ideologies.(Choice)

• AcknowledgementsA Note on Film Titles and Foreign Language CitationsIntroduction: Descended from Hercules: A Peplum Genealogy1. Nos Morituri: Time in the Peplum2. Pre/Post: Sexuality in the Peplum3. Skin Flicks: The Haptic Peplum4. Immune Systems: The Peplum as Biopolitical GenreConclusion: Biopolitical FantasyFilmographyWorks CitedIndex

Robert A. Rushing is Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he also holds affiliate appointments in Media and Cinema Studies and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. He is author of Resisting Arrest: Detective Fiction and Popular Culture and co-editor of Mad Men, Mad World: Sex, Politics, Style, and the 1960s.

"One of the most unappreciated and oft-mocked genres of the 1960s, the Italian sword-and-sandal films are generally given the short shrift by critics, historians, and film fans alike. Therefore, anytime an entire book is devoted to the films of Hercules and his godlike brethren it is cause for celebration. [... Rushing] presents a fascinating historical overview of the genre."(Cinema Retro) Despite the broad swath of the cultural terrain covered, the book presents a meaningful analysis of the peplum genre's longitudinal engagement with nationalist ideologies.(Choice)

• AcknowledgementsA Note on Film Titles and Foreign Language CitationsIntroduction: Descended from Hercules: A Peplum Genealogy1. Nos Morituri: Time in the Peplum2. Pre/Post: Sexuality in the Peplum3. Skin Flicks: The Haptic Peplum4. Immune Systems: The Peplum as Biopolitical GenreConclusion: Biopolitical FantasyFilmographyWorks CitedIndex

Robert A. Rushing is Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he also holds affiliate appointments in Media and Cinema Studies and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. He is author of Resisting Arrest: Detective Fiction and Popular Culture and co-editor of Mad Men, Mad World: Sex, Politics, Style, and the 1960s.

"One of the most unappreciated and oft-mocked genres of the 1960s, the Italian sword-and-sandal films are generally given the short shrift by critics, historians, and film fans alike. Therefore, anytime an entire book is devoted to the films of Hercules and his godlike brethren it is cause for celebration. [... Rushing] presents a fascinating historical overview of the genre."(Cinema Retro) Despite the broad swath of the cultural terrain covered, the book presents a meaningful analysis of the peplum genre's longitudinal engagement with nationalist ideologies.(Choice)

• AcknowledgementsA Note on Film Titles and Foreign Language CitationsIntroduction: Descended from Hercules: A Peplum Genealogy1. Nos Morituri: Time in the Peplum2. Pre/Post: Sexuality in the Peplum3. Skin Flicks: The Haptic Peplum4. Immune Systems: The Peplum as Biopolitical GenreConclusion: Biopolitical FantasyFilmographyWorks CitedIndex