A deep dive into the complexities of raising boys within the confines of harmful cultural norms – and how mothers can challenge those social pressures to support their sons and guide them to become connected, emotionally nuanced humans.
[Whippman's] book is honest, truth-seeking and balanced. She confronts evidence that challenges her own liberal priors and changes her mind on a number of issues.
Inertia permeates the book; it often seems trapped in 2017 ... A jumpy, irritable book, written from a defensive crouch, relentless in its solipsism ... Whippman’s book is useful, however, as an embodiment of the scarcity mind-set that deforms so much of our civic life, whether it’s debates over universal-preschool funding or élite-college admissions, immigration reform or health-care policy. It’s a grasping, hoarding impulse, and a fundamentally conservative one.
Captivating ... Whippman’s trenchant analysis explains without excusing some of the worst excesses of patriarchy ... An urgent call to reassess how boys are raised and socialized.
