Manhood In America by Michael Kimmel
1. What are some of your general thoughts or questions about the first half of Kimmel’s book?Did you enjoy reading it? Did it give you new ways to think about race and masculinity?
2. In the last paragraph of his “Preface,” Kimmel explains his “hopes” for the book. What do
you make of those hopes? (Note: If you have the most recent edition, he deleted this material.)
3. What are some of the main ideas Kimmel unpacks in his “Introduction”? What are the
strengths and weaknesses of this approach?
4. Explain, in brief, how Kimmel uses these key terms:
Genteel Patriarch; Heroic Artisan; Self-Made Man
Escape; Exclusion; Control
5. Did anything in particular stand out, good or bad, in the first five chapters?
6. We talked last time about how to structure the introduction to historical writing. Can you
identify these elements (hook/anecdote, topic, importance