Masculinities in Contemporary American Culture

Dr. Thomas Keith's new book is proof that there are a numerous amount of innovative ways to engage traditional material. In the tradition of James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" and Cornel West & bell hooks "Breaking Bread" this is the new book that the academy will be talking about. Ironically it is a text book that never quite feels like one. With a philosopher's approach to unpacking complex material, yet through the lens of an ex-musician, Dr. Keith tells a profoundly lyrical story that feels like he himself authored the manual for making dysfunctional men, just so that he could tell us how to make repairs. He perhaps is never better in his unabashed and very personal analysis of men and their masculine representation in various forms of media.

Dr. Keith invites us to travel with him as he systematically dismantles the rhyme and reason behind men's actions, both consciously and subconsciously. He paints a poignant picture of the problems visited upon men living and evolving in a patriarchal society, the crisis that accompany being boys, managing masculinity (in sports, as a father, within an organization, and even during the aging process) along the way to becoming men, and the difficulty in avoiding the inescapable violence, pornography, and misogyny inherent within too many romantic relationships.

If you are interested in acquiring the tools to create conversations that lead to deeper understanding, personal epiphanies, and yes, revelations for men to self reflect and own the fact that we can actually be better, and more importantly, do better, then there is no better place to start your exploration than with Dr. Keith's intersectional approach. As a social justice educator for many years in as many educational environments I honestly know no better intellectual armament to wage war against the menace of masculinity than this ground breaking text. Open it, read it, and then see if you can avoid wanting to tell others about it. I seriously doubt you can or would want to.

Dr. J.W. Wiley

Chief Diversity Officer - SUNY Plattsburgh

Lecturer, Philosophy & Interdisciplinary Studies

Author - The NIGGER In You: Challenging Dysfunctional Language, Engaging Leadership Moments