Manliness

This book will appeal to many men and women who realize society has chosen the wrong path in experimenting with gender and gender roles. To us, it is clear that underneath the "socialization," we crave manliness in our leadership, even after long periods of being pressed to resent it. Mansfield hits the nail on the head; men and women will appreciate the refreshing perspective of a Harvard professor who goes against the tide of liberalism.

Some of these reviews may give the idea that Manliness is about squashing beer cans on your head at monster truck rallies. But Mansfield is a deep thinker and this is a thoroughgoing analysis of a human characteristic that isn't going anywhere but isn't being examined or even acknowledged either. While some schools of feminism seem almost to wish men off the planet rather than examine gender differences in any kind of even handed way Mansfield is quite specific that feminism is not the reason manliness has become the virtue that dare not speak its name. It is rather "the entire enterprise of modernity." [p. 230] Manliness is a deeply philosophical examination of a characteristic of humanity drawing on a pantheon of thinkers from a broad spectrum of thought. That the term manliness seems gratuitously to award a virtue to approximately half of the human race is a semantic stumbling block that many will be unable to overcome. For the true scholar of gender issues Manliness is on the assigned reading list. Get to it.

This is an extraordinary book,but one written on such an intellectual plane that it seems to me highlighting/underlining is mandatory. In fact, Mansfield addresses Manliness against a backdrop of history and philosophy, from Plato to Hobbes to Machiavelli. He also addresses Manliness in Art and literature, from Stephan Crane ("The Red Badge of Courage") to the movie "High Noon". This book seems to be gaining traction and you'll hear increasing references to it, particularly from biased dullards who clearly have not read it. For the record, this book addresses the Bush Administration, War on Terror, or The President not at all. The closest it comes is the single sentence that "Manly politicians strive to do what they think is right; unmanly politicians strive to do what you think is right." If some wish to relate that to the current and previous administrations, they may, but Mansfield does not. A significant timeless work on the subject, and one that, as Bacon wrote, "needs to be chewed and digested". With a red pen in your hand. Buy it..right now.

A previous reader declares the work "bigotry" but is simply wrong. As one of the few "liberal" students of Professor Mansfield, I can assure readers that such a charge is utterly unfounded. After taking the summer of 1964 to work with SNCC and COFO in Mississippi registering blacks to vote, I returned to Harvard in a state that can only be described as "shellshock." Mansfield both accepted my need to go down to Mississippi and offered his support on my return as a student trying to write a thesis after such an experience. I learned to spot bigots with my eyes closed in Mississippi and Mansfield does not match the description. Faced with clubs, bullets, and dynamite, I needed some detachment--R & R--to recover my humanity. I found it studying with Professor Mansfield. I may not fit the stereotype among his students: I am still a "liberal"--indeed a Quaker (in part because of their attitudes toward blacks and women)--but I never found any lack of respect from Mansfield for my position. I may not agree with him on many points but I do not indulge in ignorant name-calling. Anyone who has read Mansfield's previous books would know they are all worthy of profound consideration. I look forward to reading this one, no matter how much I may differ in my opinions. He is, in language borrowed from Northrup Frye, an "eiron" in the clothing of an "alazon." A little humor and even more wit from prospective readers will go a long way in approaching his books. I will add more after I read the book but I could not bear to see so unjust a characterization in a public place. It would have been "unmanly" for me not to respond with the information I have provided.