-by susan faludi
1999
Towering...almost breathtakingly so.
Faludi turns her eye on what it means to be an american male, and how that has evolved (or devolved) in the media, corporate-capitalist age. The last male generation to stand on seemingly-solid ground were those who came of age during post-WWII prosperity. For anyone of the 60s or beyond, only shifting sand beneath. Once, employment loyalty was a two-way street, providing meaning and security for a lifetime. Now, downsizing. Once, the image of the father figure was strong, and war films celebrated brotherhood. Now, father figures are more distant or absent, and war films focus on the individual. Once, men knew it was THEIR job to provide, and the american mission was to conquer a continent (and ultimately the world). Now, those paradigms are obsolete, if not painful. And in the new world economy, most workers live with the conscious (or subconscious) awareness of producing nothing tangible.
In America, male success is measured by impossible standards of wealth, plus a beauty requirement heretofore only expected of females.
Faludi's perspective is by no means the only one by which to understand male alienation. You could discuss an ape evolutionarily designed for tribal sharing, thrust into a paradigm of individualism...
You might not agree with her every interpretation, but in the big picture, as no less a humynitarian than arnold schwarzenegger attests. faludi "hits the nail on the head".
The breadth of this book is stunning (and often surprising). There are sections on sports fandom, the male-dominated construction industries, gangbanger celebrity, the corporatizing of the military, the significance of "Rambo", the Promise Keepers, the porn industry, and astronaut as "hero". The only minimally-relevant section is Waco - it's okay to skip that one.
Faludi's eye can be startling and terrifying...yet ultimately hopeful, as she speculates on how men can reclaim their identity by joining the community of life.
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