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The Way of Men Kindle Edition

by Jack Donovan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 5,666 ratings

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What is masculinity?

When someone tells a man to be a man, they mean that there is a way to be a man. A man is not just a thing to be—it is also a way to be, a path to follow and a way to walk.

People are talking about “the end of men,” “the decline of males,” and the so-called “crisis of masculinity.” There are many diagnoses for the troubles men face today, but the chattering class is short on solutions. They refuse to deal honestly with the differences between men and women, and fail to entertain the possibility that their vision of the future offers little of value to average males.

The Way of Men answers the question “What is masculinity?”

Donovan concludes that The Way of Men is the way of the primal survival gang. The simple, amoral, tactical virtues of the gang define our most basic conception of manliness. The “crisis of masculinity” is really a timeless push-and-pull between masculinity and civilization. The world has changed more than men have, and the security and luxury of modernity have put us conflict with our own natures. The path back to honor for men may be through a new dark age.
The Way of Men is likely to be the “Iron John” for a generation of lost boys who are not-so-secretly praying for everything to fall apart.

“A thought provoking read on what it means to be a man today in a world that's increasingly finding masculinity undesirable and un-needed. Donovan makes bold and unapologetic arguments on what The Way of Men needs to be in the future.”

- Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals

“In an age where traditional masculinity is disparaged, deconstructed, feared and scorned, Jack Donovan has engaged in the necessary task of reconstructing what masculinity is, and how it fits into modern society. It seems unlikely that one could learn manhood from a book, but this would be a good place to try.”

- Scott Locklin; Writer, Taki’s Magazine

Print length

165 pages
Language

English
Publication date

March 22, 2012
File size

421 KB
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Popular Highlights in this book

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A man who is more concerned with being a good man than being good at being a man makes a very well-behaved slave.
Highlighted by 4,010 Kindle readers
It is not the strongest man who will necessarily lead, it is the man who takes the lead who will lead.
Highlighted by 3,307 Kindle readers
Strength is the ability to exert one’s will over oneself, over nature and over other people.
Highlighted by 2,482 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

Advance Praise for The Way of Men:"Jack Donovan has written a thought-provoking treatise on the essential struggle of men, taking on timeless concepts, in an honest examination of what manhood means to him. The book is carefully reasoned with his own impressive, self-made intellect. He's done his research, and pondered deep, and while I didn't always agree with everything he said--I am a better man for reading it." - Sam Sheridan, A Fighter's Heart, A Fighter's Mind

"A thought provoking read on what it means to be a man today in a world that's increasingly finding masculinity undesirable and un-needed. Donovan makes bold and unapologetic arguments on what The Way of Men needs to be in the future."- Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals
"In an age where traditional masculinity is disparaged, deconstructed, feared and scorned, Jack Donovan has engaged in the necessary task of reconstructing what masculinity is, and how it fits into modern society. It seems unlikely that one could learn manhood from a book, but this would be a good place to try."- Scott Locklin; Writer, Taki's Magazine
"Absolutely love this book! I found Jack's comments on the underlying primal instincts that motivate men and what can generate unity within a group to be both thought provoking and spot on from a leadership perspective."- Chris Duffin, AAPF and APA record-holding competitive powerlifter, coach, and gym owner.
"Peering behind the layers of civility we indulge in as a matter of pretense, Donovan explores the primal relationship between tribal identity and masculinity, and emerges endorsing a type of Nietzschean struggle for significance through conflict"- Brett Stevens, Amerika.org

About the Author

Jack Donovan moonlights as an advocate for men, tribalism, and paleomasculinity. He has contributed popular essays and reviews to The Spearhead, Alternative Right, Counter Currents, The Hall of Manly Excellence, Amerika and other sites. He lives and works near Portland, Oregon. This is his third book. For more, visit: jack-donovan.com/

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007O0Y1ZE
Publisher ‏ : ‎ DISSONANT HUM; 1st edition (March 22, 2012)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 22, 2012
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 421 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 165 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #211,834 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #184 in Men's Gender Studies
- #2,400 in Politics & Social Sciences (Kindle Store)
- #197,306 in Kindle eBooks

Customer Reviews:
4.5 5,666 ratings

About the author

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Jack Donovan

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Jack Donovan (1974-) has been writing and speaking about masculinity and philosophy for over a decade. His foundational book, The Way of Men, has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide and has been translated into French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Polish.

His most recent book, Fire in the Dark, presents a primal system of masculine roles and shows how those roles have been repeated again and again throughout the history of myth and religion.

Fire in the Dark introduced Donovan's philosophy, Solar Idealism. In 2022, he founded the movement known as The Order of Fire to further develop Solar Idealism and create a new Solar Culture.

With members of the First Men, Donovan has been publishing podcasts and print journals titled PH2T3R: The Journal of Solar Culture.

Donovan is an occasional speaker and often appears on podcasts to discuss masculinity, philosophy, and the challenges faced by men who want to live masculine lives in the 21st Century.

Jack Donovan lives in Arizona and is a purple belt in jiu-jitsu

Follow Jack on Instagram @starttheworld and on X @mr_jackdonovan

Customer reviews

5,666 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Customers say

Customers find the book very valuable, spot-on, and a good read. They also describe it as insightful, challenging, and refreshing. Readers appreciate the honesty, truthfulness, and candor of the author. Opinions are mixed on the writing style, length, and pacing. Some find it well-written and direct, while others say it's poorly written and shallow.

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Readability Thought provoking Honesty Strength Value for money Writing style Length Pacing

315 customers mention "Readability"279 positive36 negative

Customers find the book very valuable and engaging. They say the content is spot-on, the first half is awesome, and the book doesn't feel too sluggish. Readers also mention the author is brilliant.

"...This is an immensely enjoyable book and it builds well upon Donovan's established polemic legacy...." Read more

"...However, this book is a MUST read for men. My advice is, when you disagree or agree with him, check your emotions...." Read more

"Amazing book, absolutely read this if you're struggling to understand why the world seems strangely at war with itself in our modern culture wars...." Read more

"This book is highly recommended. I agreed with 99% of what the author wrote...." Read more

245 customers mention "Thought provoking"219 positive26 negative

Customers find the book insightful, challenging, and refreshing. They say it offers a guide to bring back purpose and is practical about male experiences. Readers also mention the book helps understand basic driving forces in our current world.

"...His writing is timely, bravely contentious, and paternally necessary...." Read more

"...This book covers MUCH more and really helps understand the basic driving forces between our current world...." Read more

"Learned a lot about what masculinity has been through history, was informative. Very manly book though and therefore a bit controverisial." Read more

"...This is solid work by the author. It's quite cursory, but it's also approachable and easy to digest.... until it suddenly starts to get very, very..." Read more

23 customers mention "Honesty"23 positive0 negative

Customers find the book truthful, candid, and unapologetic. They say it makes accurate points about human nature and is convincing without pretense. Readers also mention the book is realistic.

"...-written, or wordy, but well balanced by its sheer profundity and steely candor...." Read more

"...is a strong start to Jack's view on things and he makes some accurate points about human nature, especially human sexual dimorphism..." Read more

"...on following some of the strategies laid out here, and the author is intellectuallyhonest and has put a lot of hard work into this book...." Read more

"...No filler material. It’s lean and mean; and for some, brutally honest...." Read more

22 customers mention "Strength"22 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides a solid and unencumbered view into the subject. They say it gives a strong start, with great strength and knowledge to be acquired. Readers also mention the book doesn't hold back.

"...right touch-points characteristic of traditional manhood--courage, strength, mastery, honor, and brotherhood (which he refers to as gangs)...." Read more

"...The virtues of Strength, courage, mastery, and honor became associated with masculinity because in a situation where men are constantly needed to..." Read more

"...The book also talks about strength, courage, mastery & honor, which were gradually lost in our society...." Read more

"...Courage, strength, mastery and honor -- simple enough to be understood as a standard while allowing for a wide variation of what it means...." Read more

17 customers mention "Value for money"12 positive5 negative

Customers find the book worth the money. They also mention it's an awesome purchase.

"...The cost of the book is low enough to be irrelevant; how many have spent as much buying a mediocre meal at some mediocre restaurant or on mediocre..." Read more

"...That alone is worth the price." Read more

"...amateurish; second, it doesn't really have a point; and third, it is overpriced for both its size and content...." Read more

"...Then it panders and loses itself. The preface alone is worth the cost of the book." Read more

125 customers mention "Writing style"78 positive47 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing style of the book. Some mention it's well-written, direct, and easy to read. Others say it's poorly written, amateurish, and rambles at some points.

"...The text steers confidently from cool scholarly observation to rousing passages flavored of a Nietzschean urgency...." Read more

"...This is solid work by the author. It's quite cursory, but it's also approachable and easy to digest.... until it suddenly starts to get very, very..." Read more

"...stretch of fighting the ideas seem a bit flat, although they are eloquently argued and deliberately simplified for effect...." Read more

"...The text reflects on that without being an academic work. It is very easy to read and the author uses some dose of humor...." Read more

31 customers mention "Length"10 positive21 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the length of the book. Some mention it's short and well-written, while others say it's shallow, premature, and lackluster.

"...But the work is shallow and premature. He has found something he likes and is looking for sources to back it up...." Read more

"...Men are searching how to be a Man in the modern world. This book did not help." Read more

"...It is not too long, and not too short.Con's:1...." Read more

"...The book is poorly written, poorly organized, poorly researched and lacking in logic and scope...." Read more

24 customers mention "Pacing"13 positive11 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some mention it's thoughtful and bold, while others say it's boring and pointless.

"...is a world where everything is safe, nice, conformable, sweet, and likely cute...." Read more

"...How fitting of our time. Civilization is crumbling as we know it.I gave it 2 stars due to the fact that he came close." Read more

"...TWOM explains on what masculinity truly is, and it gives you a bold, no bulls*** answer...." Read more

"Kind of boring" Read more

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Rise Of The Planet Of The Men

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2012

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Jack Donovan first came to my attention sometime in 2007, when I found on top of the curbside paper recycling of downtown Portland bookstore, a postcard proclaiming "GAY IS DEAD" and turning it over to see that it announced the publication of his first book on masculinity, the bristling manifesto Androphilia. His writing and ideas have consistently struck a chord with me ever since. I am often challenged by his convictions and must ponder my own. His writing is timely, bravely contentious, and paternally necessary.

The scope and flavor of the writing is somewhere between The Naked Ape and The Planet of the Apes. Donovan's brawny distillation carves quickly to the bone and marrow of what makes a man more than just a hairless ape. The text steers confidently from cool scholarly observation to rousing passages flavored of a Nietzschean urgency. Although not deeply philosophical enough to be heavily aphoristic, rather Donovan accomplishes the vital task of codifying the fundamental tenets of manhood, Strength, Mastery, Honor and Courage; how they coalesce into the dynamism of an individual man and then tribally with the gang. This is an immensely enjoyable book and it builds well upon Donovan's established polemic legacy.

The pace is brisk, always salient, and convincing without pretense. There is a fine charismatic flair to Jack's dissertation that bespeaks a Tyler Durden-ish manifesto of manliness. Minus the soap-making and explosives of course, at least literally, but the challenges put to the reader are radical in the face of the complacent and exponentially growing bonobo masturbation society. Overall it packs a good wallop. However it sometimes felt over-written, or wordy, but well balanced by its sheer profundity and steely candor. Clearly Donovan has arrived at the quintessential of masculinity.

To the downtrodden and emasculated male house-pets, challenge your ideas about masculinity with Donovan's The Way Of Men. Furthermore reverse-engineer your own feminized behavior patterns with Simon Shepperd's All About Women. A man shouldn't be a bitch. Disengage from the bonobo torpor. The ongoing hard work of developing yourself as a man will be worth it.

So if the simians of The Planet Of The Apes had produced a warrior-philosopher, imagine that one of his initial works would be like The Way Of Men. Fiction, however, is sometimes stranger than truth and to some degree this is realized in the recent film Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes: Curious George as transcendent proto-fascist, right down to a bundle of sticks. Once the über-chimp Caesar arrives at the primate prison, he establishes his perimeter and begins to form his gang, he gains alpha status through action, intellect and promethean biochemistry, uplifts his comrades each to their own need, suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, meanwhile taking up arms, legs and four hands against a bridge of troubles and by opposing thumbs- ending them. Caesar and his band of brothers went forth to #StartTheWorld! And so should you.

4 people found this helpful

A very important book

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2014

Verified Purchase

I give this book five stars, though later in the book I find the authors conclusions flawed and a bit too reactive for my taste.

Lets start with the many strengths of this book. It is an examination of masculinity throughout history, and from before recorded history. He says that the four attributes of masculinity that are cross cultural are strength, courage, mastery and honor. He relates all these to hunter gatherer groups and gangs, and examines them in an amoral context - they are neither good or bad, they just are. And to a real degree he is correct, and I agree that we all have the drive to possess and exhibit these traits, to some extent , still within us. I also agree with him that as a society, there are not many outlets for finding and developing these within ourselves.

His focus on manliness, what it means, and how these traits were valued for longer than we have been civilized means that some of these truths are uncomfortable. As he says, he is looking at how to be good at being a man not how to be a good man or a good person. I think that recognizing these instinctual drives will help someone recognize political rhetoric and advertising that appeals to them on an emotional level, and also help us as men to begin to explore our connections to the vital, primitive parts of ourselves, and do so in a way that give us control of these drives and allows the power they unleash to enhance how we live.

Where he goes off the rails, in my opinion, is, as I said above, his re activity. Referring to secret cabals of managers, feminists and corporations that actively conspire to rob us of our masculinity puts far more direction and . malignancy to social forces than they deserve, and indicates a bit of paranoia. While there may be some small truth to it, I think these forces arise more because of our instincts to acquire and be comfortable than because of some secret masterminds operating in the background in a coherent manner.

His emphasis on honor in warrior groups like the Samurai, Christian knights, mobsters and gangs is on point, but he misses something vital. First, the code of the knights and samurai was rarely actually lived up to by them. Secondly, such codes are often used as tools for manipulation in gangs. Many mobsters including Greg Scarpa and Whitey Bulger, , talked the talk, but also were paid informants for the FBI. Many gang leaders use the "no snitching" code to get lower level members to take the fall for them. While he did discuss competition within groups, he never mentioned that aspect of it.

However, this book is a MUST read for men. My advice is, when you disagree or agree with him, check your emotions. Find real reasons to discount his later arguments. Don't let cultural conditioning or easy dismissals rob you of the chance to exercise your mind a bit, or throw out the absolutely useful truths in it because he takes them in a different direction. It takes courage and mastery (two of traits he mentions) to develop your own conclusions, and that is what a real man would do anyway. I like to think that the author would agree with me on that.

27 people found this helpful

Great Stuff But Some Crazy Thoughts

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed reading this book quite a lot. I must say, I was glued to it from the beginning to the end. Yet, I must admit I don't agree with all the ideas displayed by Jack Donovan. But it certainly has made me think a lot about what it means to be a man in our current society. I like books, which create some kind of chaos in me. Yesterday, I spent the entire day thinking about the ideas in "The Way of Men".

I agree with the 4 virtues of courage, mastery, honor and strength as being the main traits that define us from women. Now it was total craziness when he started talking about us going back to tribal age. The way of the man is the way of the gang and the way of the violence. Violence has never bring anything else than more violence.

Does a man become more masculine just because he goes out and kills his foes for his tribe? Men for generations and yet even today still do the same. We have always warred each other for resources. Mostly for resources that go to the richer men. Back then, it was for a tribe leader, we fought for women, land etc. Nowadays, we fight for oil or other resources. Not much has changed!

Men still have advantage over women! Women are commonly more passive, and won't bother to settle for a life of family. While men can use their aggressiveness to build their business and fortune. I am not saying this is always the case. But this is the first time that both men and women can truly decide their future. They can either decide to build a career, their business or stay with their kids and see them grow up.

3 people found this helpful

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Cliente de Kindle

Amazing

Reviewed in Mexico on September 4, 2024

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This book helped me a lot , i thought My Hole life was Lost but theres hope , can wait for the next book

Nik

Good read

Reviewed in Canada on January 22, 2023

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I enjoyed reading this. As a young man, it provided me with insight I never thought of before. It is very relevant in todays day & age. There are many ideas / concepts I strongly agree with & some I disagree with. Overall I enjoyed my time reading “The Way of Men”

I recommend reading this to every man, even women.
Provides great insight on manly virtues & briefly goes over the history of humanity & how men played a major part in the development of todays, western, society.

Timo Kopke

Interessante Sichtweisen

Reviewed in Germany on December 16, 2023

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Interessante Sichtweisen und Motivation um nicht zu der verweichlichten „Männerwelt“ von heute zu gehören.

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Tjerk

Every man should read this book

Reviewed in the Netherlands on August 9, 2023

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Spot on

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Recommended read for men

Reviewed in India on March 14, 2023

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"The Way of Men" by Jack Donovan is a thought-provoking examination of masculinity and what it means to be a man in the modern world. The book explores the fundamental traits that are associated with traditional masculinity, including strength, courage, mastery, and honor, and argues that these traits are necessary for men to thrive in any society.

Donovan draws on a wide range of sources, including anthropology, psychology, and history, to make his case for why these traits are so important. He argues that modern society has lost touch with the essential nature of masculinity, and that this has resulted in a crisis of identity for men.

One of the strengths of the book is its clear and concise writing style. Donovan is able to convey complex ideas in a way that is easy to understand, and his arguments are backed up by ample evidence and research. He also avoids the trap of being overly prescriptive, instead offering a framework for men to understand themselves and their place in the world.

However, the book has been criticized by some for being overly focused on a narrow definition of masculinity that excludes women and non-binary individuals. Some readers have also accused Donovan of promoting a kind of hyper-masculinity that can be toxic and harmful.

Overall, "The Way of Men" is a challenging and thought-provoking read that will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring the nature of masculinity and what it means to be a man in the modern world. While it may not be for everyone, it is a book that is sure to spark lively debate and discussion.

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