Looking Good

A valuable examination of the tyranny of body image--this time over men

Not so long ago, what the average American man did mattered more than how he looked. Since the 1970s, however, projecting the right look has become more and more essential, and men are spending millions of dollars on fitness training, bodybuilding, hair replacement, and cosmetic surgery in the relentless pursuit of physical perfection.

What has caused American men to fall into the beauty trap so long assumed to be a special danger for women? This book looks at the confluence of social, economic, and cultural changes that have shaped the new cult of male body image in postwar America. Lynne Luciano explores what men are doing to themselves, asks why they are doing it, and discovers what this new world tells us about American society today.