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A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son
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21/99
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70/99
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66/99
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About This Book
"Raw, intimate, and true . . . A Better Man cracked me wide open, and it's a template for the conversation we need to be having with our boys." — Peggy Orenstein, bestselling author of Boys & Sex A poignant look at boyhood, in the form of a heartfelt letter from comedian Michael Ian Black to his teenage son before he leaves for college, and a radical plea for rethinking masculinity and teaching young men to give and receive love. In a world in which the word masculinity now often goes hand in hand with toxic, comedian, actor, and father Michael Ian Black offers up a way forward for boys, men, and anyone who loves them. Part memoir, part advice book, and written as a heartfelt letter to his college-bound son, A Better Man reveals Black's own complicated relationship with his father, explores the damage and rising violence caused by the expectations placed on boys to "man up," and searches for the best way to help young men be part of the solution, not the problem. "If we cannot allow ourselves vulnerability," he writes, "how are we supposed to experience wonder, fear, tenderness?" Honest, funny, and hopeful, Black skillfully navigates the complex gender issues of our time and delivers a poignant answer to an urgent question: How can we be, and raise, better men?
Reviews
"Hand this to anyone who loved David Sedaris' Calypso (2018)."
"We get fun behind-the-music dirt on the mythologies undergirding American masculinity: how the 'self-made man' notion, for instance, originated with a Kentucky senator praising industrialists whose success depended on slave labor."
"Both thoughtful and lighthearted, this work will appeal to anyone interested in masculinity and modern gender roles."
"Though not as analytical as Peggy Ornstein's incisive analyses of the sex lives of young people (although she shows up here), the narrative offers thoughtful ruminations on masculinity in the modern age."
"And yet his tone is so lovely, his empathy so clear ..."
"never maudlin but worldly and self-effacing."
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