Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.55 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future [Hardcover]

Rebecca Walker (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Paperback, Bargain Price $5.60  

Book Description

March 25, 2004
One of Time magazine's 50 Future Leaders of America brings together novelists, essayists, men, and women to talk about the future of masculinity.

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.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; 1St Edition edition (March 25, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1573222690
  • ISBN-13: 978-1573222693
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars What's Appropriate?, June 28, 2004
By 
Melissa Solomon (Victoria, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future (Hardcover)
This book caught my eye at the bookstore because of its title, and even though it was only available in hardcover I decided I had to have it. I read the initial chapter a few times before actually reading the book fully, and I thought I had an idea of what it would be all about. Fortunately, I was wrong. Parts of this book (chapters by certain authors) are amazing. Others are reiterations of information I had learned elsewhere, reiterations that reminded me of the "standing on your soapbox" image. The chapters that really interested me were the one by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah where she discusses the stereotypical perceptions of "masculinity" and "femininity," the chapter by Michael Moore where he candidly discusses gender roles (and how to escape a room if your wife has set your bed on fire), the chapter by Ruth Bettelheim about the affects of divorce on male children (and how parents should work with their children post-divorce), and Martha Southgate's story of "her girlish boy." Above all what I took from this book was a sense of awe; not only do we not understand that society is creating unhappiness (in both women and men), but we also are buying into it. We keep pushing ourselves to become what it is that someone, somewhere else than where we are, is telling us is "good" and appropriate for our genders. This motion is creating depression, anger, aggression, and general malaise in both women and men. Hopefully more people will read this book, or more books like it, and begin to have an understanding of what is happening, if not do something about it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Reading, February 26, 2005
This review is from: What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future (Hardcover)
Author Rebecca Walker brings us a very interesting collection of essays by a variety of contributors in her work, "What Makes A Man." I knew this work would hold some enticing reading.
Here are a few questions for you. What does it mean to be a male? What exactly is required of our men and is it fair what we demand from them? How do they feel about the role they are made to take? These are some of the questions addressed in this work, and the responses may surprise you.
In these essays you will find heart felt stories and honest raw emotions set before you. Perhaps for the first time you will understand the true heart of a man as he struggles to find his own identity, which is often suppressed by what he feels he should be, but is not. Or longs to be, but is not given the liberty to pursue his hearts desire. Very sad.
I found this work to be very refreshing and certainly made me stop and re-think of the pre-conceived ideas that have been handed down to me concerning the place men should have in our society. The essays kept my interest as I could feel through the words that were penned a true heart cry of the writer for others to understand the turmoil that they were experiencing.
This work is truly one that would benefit all in bringing us more understanding of fears unspoken, goals not able to be achieved and dreams unfulfilled from those who have played the role for so long, men.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, February 12, 2006
By 
The Mighty Quinn (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future (Hardcover)
An excellent and unique anthology that explores gender, race and masculinity. I am reading this book for the second time in the past 16 months, and I am enjoying it so much that I decided to write a review. I wish I had a copy of this book when I was 16, although Im not sure I would have had the maturity to digest it.

These writers share their thoughts, fears, vulnerabilities and I am a more compassionate, generous, open-minded man for it. Thank you Rebecca Walker.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews






Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
THE IDEA FOR THIS BOOK was born one night after a grueling conversation with my then eleven-year-old son. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
binuclear families, david coates, rebecca walker
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, San Francisco, San Quentin, Los Angeles, United States, Marine Corps, Dharma Door
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:



Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject