The rites of man: Love, sex, and death in the making of the male

Rosiland Miles' summary of the acculturation of western men is grim but full of insight. From circumcision (English, she seems unaware that most US men are circumcised and looks only at the ritual) to bullying, abuse, ritualised fighting, gay-bashing, sexual performance and its anxiety, romantic myths and loveless marriage, remoteness from his children, suicide, murdering and being murdered, to impotence and premature death, western man has a hard time. But this is not a blaming book, and men as well as well as women will be able to read it with tragic recognition and compassion. She does at last offer some solutions, but in little detail and without any apparent conviction.