Books by Subject
Books by Subject
Men
Why
Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap -- and What Women Can
Do About It
by Warren Farrell, AMACOM; 1st edition (January 2005)
The Decline of Males
The Decline of Males is a nonsexist brief on behalf of men, and it
includes a number of interesting observations. As women play a larger role in public life,
men are looking for new ways to be male. "Perhaps the apparent explosion of interest
in sports and pornography means that men are trying to find new outlets to express their
inherent maleness, which they may feel otherwise obligated to repress," writes Tiger.
Several of his proposals are politically naive, but intriguing in how they blend
conservative and liberal ideas. Tiger, for example, thinks men should earn higher pay for
the children they have during a first marriage, and that unmarried women with children
should receive welfare without having to work. The Decline of Males will fascinate
some readers and exasperate others, yet all will agree it makes a unique intellectual
contribution to the ongoing sex wars. --John J. Miller
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Reviews
Central to Ghiglieri's argument is that violence is a deeply entrenched behavioral strategy--especially among males--that simply emerges when other strategies fail, a thesis he reinforces convincingly with both anecdotes and hard numbers. And while he recognizes that culture and socialization play important roles in encouraging violence, he maintains that ignoring the powerful biological and evolutionary forces at work is "the single most useless--and dangerous--approach one could take in trying to explain human violence."
With extensive sections on rape, murder, war, and genocide, Ghiglieri
methodically details our grim heritage, from wilding New Yorkers to wild gorillas. Some of
his conclusions are surprising but persuasive--that the goal of rape is actually
copulation, not control, for instance. But Ghiglieri's assessment is ultimately a hopeful
one: he believes that by understanding and admitting to the biological origins of
violence, we are better prepared to deal with it. --Paul Hughes
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Editorial Reviews
From the Author
Shortly before his death, I had the pleasure of talking with Arthur Ashe, Jr., one of the most gentlemanly of athletes. The former Wimbledon champion was finishing A Hard Road to Glory, his sweeping history of the black athlete. Inevitably, the subject turned to the controversy of why blacks dominated running, basketball, and football. His book had provided endless anecdotes about the very American dream of bootstrapping oneself to success. Still, Ashe did not find that explanation totally convincing. "Sociology can't explain it," Ashe sighed, frustrated at the political incorrectness of his own beliefs. "My heart says 'no,' but my head says 'yes.' I have to believe that we blacks have something that gives us an edge. I want to hear from the scientists."
Taboo is a response to Arthur's challenge. Sports--running in particular--is a perfect laboratory. Athletic competition offers a definitiveness that eludes most other aspects of our life. The favored explanation for black athletic success, a dearth of opportunities elsewhere and hard work--just do not suffice to explain the dimensions of this expanding monopoly. The decisive variable cannot be found in modern culture but in our genes--the inherent differences between populations shaped by thousands of years of evolution. Physical and physiological differences, infinitesimal as they may appear, are crucial in competitions in which a fraction of a second separates the gold medallist from the also-ran.
This is of course dangerous territory. Fascination about black
physicality, and black anger about being caricatured as a lesser human being,
have been part of the dark side of the American dialogue on race for more than a
century. Taboo respects these justifiable concerns. Yet, pretending there
are no slippery questions does not prevent them from being asked, if only under
one's breath. The challenge is in how we conduct the inquiry so that human
biodiversity might be cause for celebration of our individuality rather than
suspicion about our differences. For all our differences, we are far, far more
similar. In the end, that's my only real message. Jon Entine
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Darwinian Dynamics : Evolutionary Transitions in Fitness and
Individuality
By Richard E. Michod
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Men in Groups : Insights, Interventions,
and Psychoeducational Work
by Michael P. Andronico (Editor),Barbara M. Byrne
Hardcover -
435 pages (August 1996)
Amer Psychological
Assn; ISBN: 1557983267 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.31 x 10.30 x 7.28
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This book tells the story of how it has become fashionable to attribute pathology to millions of healthy male children. It is a story of how we are turning against boys and forgetting a simple truth: that the energy, competitiveness, and corporal daring of normal, decent males is responsible for much of what is right in the world. No one denies that boys' aggressive tendencies must be checked and channeled in constructive ways. Boys need discipline, respect, and moral guidance. Boys need love and tolerant understanding. They do not need to be pathologized.Sommers eviscerates feminist scholarship by Harvard's Carol Gilligan, the American Association of University Women, and others. Hers is feisty, muscular prose and fans of Who Stole Feminism? will delight in it. "There have always been societies that favored boys over girls," she writes. "Ours may be the first to deliberately throw the gender switch. If we continue on our present course, boys will, indeed, be tomorrow's second sex." That rhetoric may err on the side of alarmism, but Sommers' ideas are full of common sense. She essentially urges parents and educators to let boys be boys, even though their "very masculinity turns out to be politically incorrect." The War on Boys is sure to set off a fiery controversy, just as Sommers' previous book did--but it should also find a big audience of readers who become fans. --John J. Miller
Acting Male: Masculinities in the Films of James Stewart, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood.
By Dennis Bingham
Paperback
Rutger University Press, June 1994
ISBN: 0813520746
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The Adventurous Male: Chapters in the History of the White Male Mind.
By Martin Burgess Green
Hardcover
Pennsylvania State University Press, March 1993
ISBN: 027100875X
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