Of Boys and Men

Of Boys and Men is a groundbreaking analysis of how the social and economic world of men has been turned upside down, leaving them adrift and underpowered. Previous attempts to treat this condition, from all political angles, have made the same fatal mistake - of viewing the problems of men as a problem with men. This book shows how the basic social structures defining masculine maturity and success have been shattered, and how they can - and must - be reinvented.

The book draws on a careful analysis of social, economic and demographic trends; the latest thinking on gender in psychology, public policy, economics and sociology; as well as on interviews with men and women, girls and boys. In particular, it examines the worrying signs that males are less responsive to social programs and policies intended to promote economic mobility.

Of Boys and Men thus reveals to a general readership for the first time the shocking failure of many social programs to help men, even as they lift up women. Something close to a conspiracy of silence in the social sciences has kept this a secret. It ends with an urgent manifesto for a new model of masculinity that is both pro-male and pro-equality: for parents, for women, law-makers - and for men themselves.