For the sake of disclosure, I have not read the entire book yet, but went through it quickly, and know its tone and content. Also, I am a free-thinking, liberal, confident female, who (to paraphrase Mansfield) has studied men all my life (40+ years). I love men, and yet find many of them just tragically confused, unaware of what being a man is all about.
This book is worth reading by anyone who is interested in gender relations -- and aren't we all. It does not appear to me that it is an anti-woman book, as the first Amazon reviewer (below) suggests.
I absolutely agree with Mansfield's opinion that being a man is about having "confidence in risky situations". That negative reviewer was totally on shaky grounds (logic-wise) arguing that it is an insult to women (because to her, it meant that Masfiled thinks that courage is just a masculine trait).
Women can be as courageous, or more, as men. But that's not the issue. The issue is that if you are a woman, and you hapen to be shy, timid, or downright cowardly, you can still feel like a woman -- i.e. feminine, true to your gender.
Courage is not expected of women in our culture to the extent it is expected of men (though I hope it will gradually change because it is a sign of inequality). Many people -- men or women - have a hard time differentiating, on the gut level, between courage that may entail physical danger, and emotional/intellectual courage. Someone who is weaker physically may instinctively shy away from sticking his/her head out.
However, when a man is not courageous or confident, he simply cannot feel like a man, and loses self-respect -- which has a disastrous effect on his life, in his raltionships with women in particular, but also in relation to men; and that negatively affects his overall functioning in society.
I also agree with Mansfiled's assertion that a man cannot be a gentleman until he is a man first (in a true, fully encompassing sense of that word). That is a great insight -- helps me understand why men who are not gentlemen often lack personal courage.
Whether I am going to like or agree with everything in this book, or not, is not that important -- I look forward to reading every page anyway.
What I appreciate is that it has been written by a mature, thinking, outspoken, intellectually accomplished man. Therefore it gives me as a woman invaluable, thought-provoking insights. Worth every penny.
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About the author
Absolute garbage
This book is absolute garbage. I have a PhD in political science, and this book (and Harvey Mansfield) is a disgrace to the field. Mansfield states his bigoted viewpoint as "fact," does not cite any evidence or research to back his arguments, and (at best) tries to frame his work in terms of out-dated pseudoscience.A choice example: “One has only to think of Jane Austen to be assured that women have a sense of humor, distributed in lesser quantities to lesser brains. Women do make jokes, only not so noticeably as men.”Just watch your favorite porn instead, you'll get a lot more out of it.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2006
- Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2006
