Book Description

What does it mean to be male in the twenty-first century? What does the concept of masculinity even mean in the wake of four decades of modern feminism? What makes a man a man today and a woman a woman? Are those distinctions even real anymore?

In this groundbreaking collection, Michael Datcher, Michael Moore, Anthony Swofford, Ruth Bettelheim, and a whole host of the world's most influential authors address these questions and many others. Through diverse themes that touch all of our lives — including sex, grief, power, money, family, privilege, violence, marriage, and work — these accomplished contributors lend their unique perspectives as they share their thoughts, experiences, and stories on forging new men and defining masculinity in a constantly changing world.

Rebecca Walker's feminist anthology, To Be Real, published nearly a decade ago, is a standard text in women's studies courses across the country. Considered one of the defining texts of contemporary feminism, To Be Real successfully bridged chasms between generations and ideologies. Similarly revolutionary and challenging in scope, What Makes a Man will be the first book to articulate and define the contours and concerns of a new generation of men.

From Booklist

Walker, author of the memoir Black, White, and Jewish (2000), has put together a timely and profound anthology. One wonders what changes could occur in our society if such texts were read and openly and sensitively discussed among boys and girls who are on the verge of entering the limiting spaces we call "manhood" and "womanhood." Walker's introductory essay offers poignant and insightful observations about our reactions as parents, children, and peers to the process of becoming a "man." Other striking pieces include a mother's questions about her three-year-old son's insistence that he's a girl; a man's reflections on his childhood and the experiences, role models, and expectations that shaped him; a privileged young black man's life of trying to fit in while remaining true to his belief in peace over violence; and a transsexual's search for self beyond stereotype. Walker has done society at large a great service by bringing forth these voices, these views. Now if only society will listen.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Janet St. John

From Publishers Weekly

In this literate essay collection, Walker (Black, White and Jewish) brings together male and female writers to ponder the male figure in its various poses: ill, robust, young, aged, confident, emotionally spent. The result is a book that portrays masculinity as a fluid mosaic, giving added resonance to contributor Caitríona Reed’s claim that "the Navajo have at least forty-nine gender designations." Elsewhere humor writer Bruce Stockler, in "No Means No," uses agile diction to portray the frenetic schedule and social stigma attached to being a stay-at-home dad—for four children, including triplets. And Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, in an essay that uses narrative twists to surprise readers with thoughtful analysis, ambivalently describes Ghana, a country where men link pinkies while chatting in bars because Ghanaian society accepts the display of physical affection between male friends. Almost half of the writers are African American (two others are gay men), and a recurring theme involves the shedding of machismo associated with that culture. Most of the essays are well crafted—an exception being Michael Moore’s hollow rant "The End of Men"—and a number of them chronicle a personal transformation from a limited view of masculinity to one imbued with nuance and so-called femininity. These awakenings are sometimes cloying and may make readers yearn for a defense of the red-blooded man—which they’ll glimpse in the excerpt from Anthony Swofford’s acclaimed Gulf War memoir Jarhead. But overall the anecdotes and insights will keep readers engaged, even if they cast only occasional light on an imagined future.

About Author

Rebecca Walker was educated at Yale University, and her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and publications, including Harper's, the Utne Reader, Vibe, and Spin. She has hosted television forums and produced segments for national and public television, and is a founder of Third Wave Foundation, the only national activist philanthropic organization for young women between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Walker has lived most recently in New York City and now resides in northern California.

Book Dimension

Height (mm) 199 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Width (mm) 146