Manhood in America: A Cultural History

Michael Kimmel, undoubtedly, is at the forefront of sociology in America, yet at the same time developed an unusual gift for creative writing that miraculously transforms any tedious study of manhood in America into a gripping narrative that makes you envisage our schools are vanguarded by a horde of extraterrestrial organisms who arrived in our locker rooms to impress, overwhelm and subjugate womankind (and undo their competitors). What Kimmel does is piercing all the impressive data and disassociated knowledge from social studies together in order to reveal (as in revelation) those disturbing bounding rites and the chronic survival of (mostly white middle-class) male basic instincts going astray in the modern world of eternal competition, moral decline, and ferocious feminism. Very daring and thought-provoking!

Greatest book there is, best time ever spent. Go buy it

This is a very interesting historical survey of American manhood from the early American Republic to the present day (at the time of last publication). Kimmel draws from a variety of sources to illustrate how ideas, images, and events shaped and were shaped by a continuing construction of a unique American understanding of masculinity. I understand that it is currently out of print, but I've heard rumors of a new printing fairly soon. If this is the case, then I heartily recommend this book to those interested in gender studies or cultural history. Even if you're simply interested in historical ideas of manhood or how current ideas of gender roles are in fact historically- based, this is a book for you.

This is a prodigiously researched and exceptionally well-written history of manhood in America -- something every man should read, and something every man COULD read, given the author's engaging, accessible writing style. I'm enormously impressed by the wealth of information contained in it and the author's wide-ranging understanding of American history, culture and popular culture. When you read this, one realizes the historical precedent, for one thing, of electing presidents of limited capacity. This is a seriously good book.

I found Michael Kimmel's book to be a fabulous portrayal of the roots of American sex roles. He uses 3 categories of manhood to describe American men: The Heroic Artisan, Genteel Patriarch and the Self-Made Man. What is very interesting is that he explains, with excessive evidence, how business interests have effectively devalued the latter 2 models, leaving the Self-Made Man as the only thing for American men to strive for. Even more interesting, is the way he documents what this ideal does to the marginalized; minorities, women, immigrants, and working class men. Fortunately, he disagrees with Robert Bly about the need for men to run off into the woods and bond-men have been doing that for years. Instead, he calls on men to embrace feminist philosophy as they (feminists) are not man-haters, but those who really love men, because they "love us enough to believe that we can change." All in all, this is a great book for all men and women who are uncomfortable with gender roles in today's society and who want to learn where they came from. This book truly provides real hope for men.