Brett McKay

Феминистката история на света разказва, че "едно време" (т.е. преди феминизма) мъжете са потискали жените, които общо взето са били безгласна буква в световната история и общество, както и в собствените си семейства.

Реалността и разумният поглед върху историята пък show more показва, че макар върховете на властта почти винаги да са били заети от мъже, хората едно време не са били много по-различни от хората днес и жените винаги са имали важно място и роля в обществото и неговото оформяне, навици и характеристики.

По-конкретно, ако си мислите, че днешните опасения, че съвременните мъже са лигльовци и те, както и света са станали прекалено "женствени"... може би сте прави, но това далеч не е уникално положение на нещата. Преди повече от сто години положението е било горе-долу подобно до степен влиятелни религиозни и обществени дейци да се притесняват от размекващото влияние на жените върху църквата и обществото - което отпъжда мъжествените мъже и ги кара да странят от религиозния и обществен живот.

Отговор на това опасение е движението за "Мускулесто християнство", т.е. за малко по-физически, реален поглед на християнската религия върху живота и света и по-малко езотеричен (който са свързвали с жените, които тогава са 3/4 от редовно ходещите на църква). Движението е не толкова анти-интелектуално, колкото про-физическа култура, опит да се избяга от посоката на пренебрегване на тялото за сметка на духа в протестантската християнска традиция.

Макар, разбира се, книгата да разказва за отминали отдавна събития, идеите на мускулестото християнство имат влияние върху религията и обществото дори днес, а ние, като стремящи се да бъдем мъжествени мъже, има какво да научим от тях, дори да не сме християни. show less

Book source ~ ARC. My review is voluntary and honest.

It’s the summer of 1982 and 12-yr-old Ret McCoy is happy. After moving around a lot his family has been in Riverton, Utah for three years. He and his friends, Gary and Jax, are nearly inseparable. They were spending their summer vacation riding bikes and just hanging out when they accept a dare by an older kid to spend the night in the Crooked House, a long abandoned house that everyone believed was haunted. Everything changed after that show more night. When people start disappearing, Ret seems to be the only one seeing the extreme weirdness going on, but he can’t make the adults believe him. That’s when he takes matters into his own hands. In the words of the Lost in Space robot: Danger, Will Robinson, danger!

Ret is 12 so this is kinda on the cusp of Middle Grade and Young Adult. It’s a little hard to believe that the adults can’t see what’s going on, because really, it’s very weird, but it’s always easier to consider any type of explanation over a supernatural one. The adults do a lot of rationalizing, but that’s expected. The kids do a lot of sneaky things that give me nightmares. LOL The supernatural part is pretty cool though for some reason it just doesn’t gel perfectly for me. I guess because there’s no real explanation about how it all gets started and the reason why. Okay, so there is mention of a Big Bad, but I have no idea how it all fits in. The supernatural stuff mostly starts off page and we’re dropped into it, so I guess I just want to know exactly how the new owner of the Crooked House fits into it all. All-in-all though this is a great spooky, and at times kinda scary, paranormal YA mystery. show less

This work is an anthology from the team at The Art of Manliness, with the content organised around seven 'manly' virtues. Manliness in this case is defined by its opposite - childishness - and I would be lying if I were to say I had not learnt a great deal through the Art of Manliness website. Many of the excerpts were familiar, while others were real gems unearthed from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At times, the identification of virtuousness with nationalism had me show more cringing and I could hear "We rule you, we fool you, we shoot at you" echoing in my subconscious. Then, without warning, Thoreau or Emerson would rescue me and I could take the best while leaving the rest of the conservative where it belongs. The book itself is well-presented in textured paper, with superb artwork and an interesting cover. The seven virtues work well as the organising principle of the book and many of the excerpts have given me glimpses of other works that I will read in full. This is an inspiring and entertaining read, and a good starting point for my reading journey for 2017. show less

Quaint idea...at once mawkish, pretentious, humorous, pseudo-proper...the discerning reader needs to filter the foppish silliness for the sagacity that is secreted within the product of two very full of themselves writers.

Rephrasing: there actually are good concepts hidden among the authors' perceptions/notions of "manliness"...and there is a lot of affectation, whether innocently conveyed or deliberately crafted I neither know or care to find out. Pick from the parts that make sense. And show more try to keep the condescending smile to yourself...

(This is a quick read if you have any cosmopolitan sense at all...) show less