From the notoriously contrarian author of Against Love, a witty and probing examination of why badly behaved men have been her lifelong fascination, on and off the page. It's no secret that men often behave in intemperate ways, but in recent years we've witnessed so many spectacular public displays of male excess-disgraced politicians, erotically desperate professors, fallen sports icons-that we're left to wonder whether something has come unwired in the collective male psyche. In the essays collected here, Laura Kipnis revisits the archetypes of wayward masculinity that have captured her imagination over the years, scrutinizing men who have figured in her own life alongside more controversial public examples. Slicing through the usual clichés about the differences between the sexes, Kipnis mixes intellectual rigor and wit to give us compelling survey of the affinities, jealousies, longings, and erotics that structure the male-female bond.
"Kipnis's gifts are on full display in this irresistible collection of essays, in which she weaves together complex and penetrating insights about gender into provocative treatises.… Kipnis's arguments are never predictable: for example, her chapter on 'juicers,' ostensibly about steroid-abusing male athletes, evolves into a profound soliloquy about writing, plagiarism, and labor markets. Her examination of modern manhood sheds as much light on male vulnerability as it does on male privilege, entitlement, and abuse…. Kipnis has given us a necessary, and often witty, book that shows a brilliant, agile mind at work."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Feisty, unapologetic forays into the messiness of gender relations… rendered in funny, spirited writing."
Kirkus Reviews
"Men is a witty, incisive collection that exhibits just the right balance of empathy and suspicion for its subject. Kipnis is one of our keenest."
