Review: Manhood in America
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsKimmel (Sociology/SUNY, Stony Brook) applies the methodology of feminist history to the experience of being male in America. Rejecting the idea that almost every history book is about the male experience, Kimmel writes not about what men ""actually did"" since the birth of the republic, but what they were ""supposed to do, feel, and think."" This is not advocacy of poor, embattled white males, but a scholarly and detailed history of how men have been defined in popular culture since the 19th century. He follows modes of masculinity from the squirearchical ""genteel patriarch"" and ""heroic artisan"" of the early 19th century to the ""feminization"" of the post-industrial-revolution office worker, who was not engaged in physical labor. At the same time, men hitched the wagons of their male self-image to the marketplace's ""volatile"" star, measuring their masculinity in terms of their economic success. ""Manhood,"" Kimmel argues, ""is less about the drive for domination and more about the fear of others dominating us."" He ranges over forgotten plays, Hemingway heroes, Charles Atlas, the high-school social dynamics of Archie comics, and the pipe-smoking proto-yuppie of Playboy magazine and comes up with the paradigms of masculinity that we have invented--and which have proved unsatisfying or unrealistic. Both the feminist and men's movements come in for examination, as does the cultural role of homosexuality. His conclusion: ""Propping up manhood by exclusion has never brought men the security and comfort of a stable gender identity."" Instead ""we must begin to imagine a world of equality in which we also embrace and celebrate difference."" Wide-ranging, levelheaded, human, and deeply interesting, Manhood in America often provokes the thought, ""Why haven't I read this before?"" Must reading for the light it sheds on some of our central historical phenomena as well as on current headlines.
Review: Manhood in America: A Cultural History
User Review - Mike - GoodreadsMK has an intriguing writing style. I enjoyed the book, but I do not completely agree with his argument. Read full review
Review: Manhood in America: A Cultural History
User Review - Melissa Maxwell - GoodreadsI really enjoyed the book and it provided a good amount of insight into men and the changing definition of Manhood and Masculinity over time in America. I was not fond of the women bashing and blaming ... Read full review
Review: Manhood in America: A Cultural History
User Review - Dolly - GoodreadsThis is the most interesting book I have ever read about masculinity. It explains in detail the history of manhood (as the title offers) in a very easy way to read, amusing, and with the most amazing ... Read full review
Review: Manhood in America: A Cultural History
User Review - Susan Bin - Goodreadsok im going to concentrate in gender studies now Read full review
Review: Manhood in America: A Cultural History
User Review - Zachariah - GoodreadsI enjoyed this book; it is very interesting. Kimmel does a good job bringing forward American history and discussing it relates to notions of gender. Of course, as it goes with these sorts of cultural studies, there is leeway, interpretation, and conjecture. But still good. Read full review
Review: Manhood in America: A Cultural History
User Review - Sam Lindsay-levine - GoodreadsA scholarly and comprehensive look at masculinity in America, reminding us how deeply socially constructed it is. Plenty of "I never knew that before" moments. This book is everything I wanted Guyland to be that it wasn't. Read full review
Review: Manhood in America
User Review - AJ - GoodreadsMaybe I'll come back to this book later but it's really not doing it for me right now. Read full review
Review: Manhood in America
User Review - David - GoodreadsI only read a few sections of this, the modern sections that are relevant to my students, but I thought that MK wrote in a very clear and compelling fashion. He's very objective in his analysis of men ... Read full review
Review: Manhood in America: A Cultural History
User Review - John - GoodreadsA cunningly written dissection of the history of men's search for safety and a self-definition which is achievable and sustaining. Kimmel writes from such a widely and deeply read experience that he ... Read full review
