Our entire culture is permeated with the language of war: the war on drugs, the war on cancer, the war on poverty, and so on. In an age when masculinity is attacked from every angle, leading to a generation at equal turns passive and belligerent, Michael Foster and Bnonn Tennant have given us a manifesto for manhood. I will not recover from what I am seeing, a woman recounting her deepest pain in front of a group of disinterested and disbelieving men who run our country. How to bring you inside this experience with me, so that you can be not just openhearted, but so you can know me, so that when I die, you can say the right words?

Masters explains the development of men’s many strengths as well as their compensations, the downsides that so many adopt to “be a man,” including burying some parts of themselves so deeply that they forget that such parts are even there! It stands out all the more for the lack of such clear speech and precise biblical teaching in evangelical circles today. True masculine power is rooted in this dynamic blend of “softer” and “harder” attributes — showing up as a potent alignment of head, heart, and guts.Larry Richards, a popular speaker at men's conferences around the country, is the pastor of an inner city parish in Erie, PA. I definitely think there are some shots at toxic masculinity, but I think there are also some lingering nostalgia for it. It comes unexpectedly on this particular day, but I’ve been thinking and expecting it for as long as I can remember. I have seen many men suffering from shutting themselves off to their own depths, cutting themselves off from what would enable them to have truly fulfilling relationships — not just their empathy, vulnerability, and capacity for emotional literacy, but also their true power and strength, their authenticity, their capacity to anchor themselves in real integrity. He hosts his own daily national radio show on Relevant Radio, and is the founder of The Reason for Our Hope Foundation.

I will get free breakfast for the rest of the week, with many apologies to this newly minted white man. To Be a Man” is Krauss’s first story collection, after the acclaimed novels “Man Walks Into a Room,” “The History of Love,” “Great House” and, most recently, “Forest Dark. She wrote about how the only time she had ever been considered excessively feminine was during her stint as a man: her alter ego, Ned, was assumed to be gay on several occasions. Oh, and it also includes emergency instructions on how to land a 747 jumbo jet, in case you ever find yourself in that particular situation. OWN AFFILIATION: I am an editor/contributor to this book or another book in the Series (where applicable) and/or on the Editorial Board of the Series, of which this volume is part.John Birmingham grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and was educated at St Edmunds Christian Brother's College in Ipswich and the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Each story in “To Be a Man” is governed by its own unique and intricate logic, yet the stylistic differences are never gimmicky.