Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.27 (764 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0231144318 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 328 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-03-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
When did maturity become the ultimate taboo? Men have gone from idolizing Cary Grant to aping Hugh Grant, shunning marriage and responsibility well into their twenties and thirties. He finds that men of the "Greatest Generation" might have embraced their role as providers but were confused by the contradictions and expectations of modern fatherhood. He would rather prolong the hedonistic pleasures of youth than embrace the self-sacrificing demands of adulthood. Their uncertainty gave birth to the Beats and men who indulged in childhood hobbies and boyish sports. Gary Cross, renowned cultural historian, identifies the boy-man and his habits, examining the attitudes and practices of three generations to make sense of this gradual but profound shift in American masculinity. Rather than fashion a new manhood, baby-boomers held onto their youth and, when that was gone, embraced Viagra. Cross matches the rise of the American boy-man to trends in twentieth-century advertising, popular culture, and consumerism, and he locates the roots of our present crisis in the vague call for a new model of leadership that, ultimately, failed to offer a better concept of maturity.Cross does not blame the young or glorify the past. Arguing that contemporary American culture undermines both conservative ideals of male maturity and the liberal values of community and responsibility, Cross concludes with a proposal for a modern marriage of personal desire and et
Feminism, extended adolescence and an aggressive media culture promoting conflicting signals about maleness and fatherhood only add to this immaturity trend. . He cites the example of Hugh Hefner's popular concept of childish male wish fulfillment, an empire built on sexually available women, carnal fantasies and eternal playtime. Not only does Cross outline the dilemma, but he cites a cure: We must recognize that as adults, and equally as men, we have responsibilities to our partners, families, and communities beyond our own need for experience and pleasure. In this perceptive, eloquent book, Cross concludes that growing-up has never been more difficult in this complicated time. (Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a d
Put not away childish things Andrew S. Rogers This book is both more and less than I was expecting. "Less," in that I was hoping for a stronger critique -- not to say denunciation -- of today's "boy-men," as author Gary Cross calls them. The arrested-development adults-but-not-grown-ups like the suit-wearing, video game-playing guy in the cover art or, even more appropriate, the men in their forties, or older, who still run around in. "not an easy read and a little dense of history" according to photondn. Gary Cross' Men To Boys shows how men have changed in behavior and thinking over generations starting from the mid-1850's to present.Even though the title is Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity, I am not sure if the book had a distinct answer as to why men are acting like boys. It is like pointing the answer to a body of history and saying that the answer is over there in that di. "Disappointing" according to Marc Safran. Basic thesis of the book was clear but examples where so entrenched in personal recollections and media memories that it lost any scientific believability.