Manliness [Paperback]

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.

A previous reader declares the work "bigotry" but is simply wrong. As one of the few "liberal" students of Professor Mansfield, I can assure readers that such a charge is utterly unfounded. After taking the summer of 1964 to work with SNCC and COFO in Mississippi registering blacks to vote, I returned to Harvard in a state that can only be described as "shellshock." Mansfield both accepted my need to go down to Mississippi and offered his support on my return as a student trying to write a thesis after such an experience. I learned to spot bigots with my eyes closed in Mississippi and Mansfield does not match the description. Faced with clubs, bullets, and dynamite, I needed some detachment--R&R--to recover my humanity. I found it studying with Professor Mansfield. I may not fit the stereotype among his students: I am still a "liberal"--indeed a Quaker (in part because of their attitudes toward blacks and women)--but I never found any lack of respect from Mansfield for my position. I may not agree with him on many points but I do not indulge in ignorant name-calling. Anyone who has read Mansfield's previous books would know they are all worthy of profound consideration. I look forward to reading this one, no matter how much I may differ in my opinions. He is, in language borrowed from Northrup Frye, an "eiron" in the clothing of an "alazon." A little humor and even more wit from prospective readers will go a long way in approaching his books. I will add more after I read the book but I could not bear to see so unjust a characterization in a public place. It would have been "unmanly" for me not to respond with the information I have provided.

This is an extraordinary book,but one written on such an intellectual plane that it seems to me highlighting/underlining is mandatory. In fact, Mansfield addresses Manliness against a backdrop of history and philosophy, from Plato to Hobbes to Machiavelli.

He also addresses Manliness in Art and literature, from Stephan Crane ("The Red Badge of Courage") to the movie "High Noon".

This book seems to be gaining traction and you'll hear increasing references to it, particularly from biased dullards who clearly have not read it. For the record, this book addresses the Bush Administration, War on Terror, or The President not at all. The closest it comes is the single sentence that "Manly politicians strive to do what they think is right; unmanly politicians strive to do what you think is right." If some wish to relate that to the current and previous administrations, they may, but Mansfield does not.

A significant timeless work on the subject, and one that, as Bacon wrote, "needs to be chewed and digested". With a red pen in your hand. Buy it..right now.