Manhood in America: A Cultural HistoryOxford University Press, 2006 - 322 pages For more than three decades, the women's movement and its scholars have exhaustively studied women's complex history, roles, and struggles. In Manhood in America, Second Edition, author Michael S. Kimmel--a leading authority in gender studies--argues that it is time for men to rediscover their own evolution. Drawing on a myriad of sources, including advice books, magazine columns, political pamphlets, and popular novels and films, he demonstrates that American men have been eternally frustrated by their efforts to keep up with constantly changing standards. Kimmel contends that men must follow the lead of the women's movement; it is only by mining their past for its best qualities and worst excesses that men will free themselves from the constraints of the masculine ideal. Condensed and revised in this second edition, Manhood in America features updated chapters and examples that extend its coverage through the present Bush administration. Touching on issues of masculinity as they pertain to current events, the book discusses such timely topics as post-9/11 politics, "self-made" masculinities (including those of Internet entrepreneurs), presidential campaigns, and gender politics. It also covers contemporary debates about fatherlessness, the biology of male aggression, and pop psychologists like John Gray and Dr. Laura. Outlining the various ways in which manhood has been constructed and portrayed in America, this engaging history is ideal as a main text for courses on masculinity or as a supplementary text for courses in gender studies and cultural history. |
From inside the book
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Page 96
... hero of Alger's first book , Ragged Dick ( 1868 ) , is an orphan whose honesty , hard work , and virtue earn him the respect of older men , who actually become his ben- efactors when Hunter rescues them from swindlers or their daughters ...
... hero of Alger's first book , Ragged Dick ( 1868 ) , is an orphan whose honesty , hard work , and virtue earn him the respect of older men , who actually become his ben- efactors when Hunter rescues them from swindlers or their daughters ...
Page 97
... hero , a slightly younger and less vigorous boy who becomes our hero's apprentice ; the snob , the son of a gentleman , who is " lazy , ignorant , arrogant , and unwilling to work because he considers it beneath his station " and who is ...
... hero , a slightly younger and less vigorous boy who becomes our hero's apprentice ; the snob , the son of a gentleman , who is " lazy , ignorant , arrogant , and unwilling to work because he considers it beneath his station " and who is ...
Page 141
... hero , Sam Spade , was more coldly cynical than his peers , a " defensive loner who is suspicious of all relationships , romantic and other- wise , " which made him all the more manly . " After the high minded detective heroes , their ...
... hero , Sam Spade , was more coldly cynical than his peers , a " defensive loner who is suspicious of all relationships , romantic and other- wise , " which made him all the more manly . " After the high minded detective heroes , their ...
Contents
The Birth of the SelfMade Man | 11 |
SelfControl and Fantasies of Escape | 30 |
Captains of Industry White Collars and | 57 |
Copyright | |
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adolescent American history American manhood argued Barbara Ehrenreich baseball become behavior Bernarr Macfadden Billy Sunday Boston boys celebrated Chicago cited City Civil claimed coeducation cowboy cultural cultural feminization decades domestic dominant economic effeminacy effeminate efforts emasculated Eminem emotional equality fantasy Fatal Riot father fear feel female feminine feminism feminist film fraternal frontier gender Genteel Patriarch George girls guys hero Heroic Artisan homophobia homosexuality homosocial immigrants increasingly industrial Jesus John labor liberation lives magazine man's manly masculinist masculinity men's men's rights metrosexual middle-class moral mother Muscular Christianity nation nineteenth century novel organization Owen Wister parents percent Playboy political popular race rape role Roosevelt Self-Made sexual sissy social society sons sphere success Theodore Roosevelt traditional transformed turn urban virility virtue Warren Farrell William wimp woman women workers working-class workplace writes wrote York young