Better Boys, Better Men: The New Masculinity That Creates Greater Courage and Emotional Resiliency

A thought-provoking and much-needed look at how modern masculinity is harming and holding back men--and all of society--and what we can do to promote a new masculinity that allows men of all ages to thrive.

In Better Boys, Better Men, cultural critic and New York Times contributor Andrew Reiner argues that men today are working on an outdated model of masculinity, which prevents them in moments of distress and vulnerability from marshalling the courage, strength, and resiliency--the very characteristics we regularly champion in men--they need to thrive in a world vastly different from the ones their fathers and grandfathers grew up in. According to Reiner, this outdated model of manhood can have devastating effects on the entire culture and, especially boys and men, from falling behind in the classroom and rising male unemployment rates to increased levels of depression and disturbing upticks in violence on a mass scale.

Reiner interviews boys and men of all ages, educators, counselors, therapists, and physicians throughout the United States to better understand what factors are preventing the country's boys and men from developing the emotional resiliency they need. He also introduces readers to the boys and men at the vanguard of a new masculinity that empowers them to find and express the full range of their humanity.

Urgent and necessary, Better Boys, Better Men will change the way we talk about boys and men in America today.

Andrew Reiner is a professor at Towson University, where he offers the seminar “Changing Face of Masculinity.” He has written on masculinity and men's issues for the New York Times, Italy's la Republica and the Washington Post Magazine, and his work has been featured on NPR and the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and in The Guardian, Men's Health magazine, and Forbes. He speaks about masculinity regularly at schools and conferences nationally and internationally.