• Skip to main content
  • Current
  • Home
  • About
    • About Current
    • Masthead
  • Podcasts
  • Blogs
    • The Way of Improvement Leads Home
    • The Arena
  • Reviews
  • 🔎

masculinity

The Author’s Corner with Eran A. Zelnik

Rachel Petroziello   |  January 28, 2025

Eran A. Zelnik is a Lecturer in the Department of History at California State University, Chico. This interview is based on his new book, American Laughter, American Fury: Humor and the Making of a White Man’s Democracy, 1750–1850 (Johns Hopkins […]

The “testosterone podcast election”

John Fea   |  November 9, 2024

“Young men feel unseen by the Democratic Party,” says NYU professor Scott Galloway. It seems like a lot of Americans got sick of all the toxic masculinity language and they pushed back on Election Day. What fascinates me is that […]

The Author’s Corner with Matthias AndrĂ© Voigt

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 30, 2024

Matthias AndrĂ© Voigt is Part-Time Lecturer in Modern American History at Free University Berlin. This interview is based on his new book, Reinventing the Warrior: Masculinity in the American Indian Movement, 1968-1973 (University Press of Kansas, 2024). JF: What led […]

What does a sword-swallowing pole-dancer who performs at gay strip clubs have to do with evangelical men’s ministries?

John Fea   |  April 16, 2024

If you want a glimpse into the culture of the evangelical men’s movement, read Julie Roys’s piece on what what happened between John Lindell and Mark Driscoll at the Stronger Men’s Conference last weekend. (We mentioned this in Monday’s Evangelical […]

The Author’s Corner with Matthew Ward

Rachel Petroziello   |  November 8, 2023

Matthew Ward is Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Dundee. This interview is based on his new book, Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023). […]

The Author’s Corner with Joseph Beilein Jr.

Rachel Petroziello   |  September 13, 2023

Joseph Beilein Jr. is Associate Professor of History at Penn State Behrend. This interview is based on his new book, A Man by Any Other Name: William Clarke Quantrill and the Search for American Manhood (University of Georgia Press, 2023). […]

The opposite of toxic masculinity is heroic masculinity

John Fea   |  August 30, 2023

Here is a taste of Caitlin Flanagan’s recent piece at The Atlantic: The opposite of toxic masculinity is heroic masculinity. It’s all around us; you depend on it for your safety, as I do. It is almost entirely taken for […]

What is a man?

Jon D. Schaff   |  August 17, 2023

Recently Tucker Carlson, the bow-tie wearing paragon of journalistic courage, interviewed professional misogynist Andrew Tate. If you have never heard of Andrew Tate, consider yourself lucky, although perhaps a bit ill-informed. If you have a daughter (I do) you’d better […]

“The Left is more likely…to hold men responsible for their own problems and advise them to purge themselves of their ‘toxic masculinity.'”

John Fea   |  April 11, 2023

Over at Commonweal, Brendan Ruberry reviews Richard V. Reeves’s book, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It. Here is a taste: “…today, around the industrialized world, men seem […]

Boyhood and guns

John Fea   |  October 25, 2022

Over at JSTOR Daily, Rachael Kay Albers asks “how marketing made guns a fundamental element of contemporary boyhood.” She calls attention to the scholarly work of Charles-Edward Anderson, Anne G. Kimball, Sarah L. Olson, Jay Mechling, Wendy Varney, and Garen […]

The Author’s Corner with Maurizio Valsania

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 24, 2022

Maurizio Valsania is Professor of American History at the University of Turin. This interview is based on his new book, First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022). JF: What led you […]

The Author’s Corner with Megan Bever

Rachel Petroziello   |  October 7, 2022

Megan Bever is Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Social Sciences Department at Missouri Southern State University. This interview is based on her new book, At War with King Alcohol: Debating Drinking and Masculinity in the Civil War […]

So much for all that MAGA/GOP/Christian Right masculinity crap. The real hero today is a 26-year-old female aide

John Fea   |  June 28, 2022

Former vice-president Mike Pence won’t testify before the House Committee to investigate January 6th. My congressman Scott Perry, and many other members of Congress, including minority leader Kevin McCarthy, will not testify. White House counsel Pat Cipollone will not testify. […]