A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son

by Michael Ian Black

A poignant look at boyhood, in the form of a heartfelt letter from comedian Michael Ian Black to his teenage son before he leaves for college, and a radical plea for rethinking masculinity and teaching young men to give and receive love. "As a parent of both boys and girls, I find myself rebuffing the gender-based cultural assumptions that are foisted on them more frequently than I could have ever imagined. Thank you, Michael Ian Black, for challenging society's antiquated approach to raising boys and deepening the conversation about what we actually want for our kids. Sir, you are a good egg." --Samatha Bee, host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

In this thoughtful, inspiring, and deeply personal book, comedian, actor, and father Michael Ian Black gets (mostly) serious about the trouble with masculinity. In the form of a heartfelt letter to his college-bound son--but with ideas sure to resonate for many parents--he reveals his own complicated relationship with his father, explores the damage caused by the expectations placed on boys to "man up," and searches for the best way to help his son be part of the solution, not the problem, in a world in which the word "masculinity" now goes hand in hand with "toxic."

Part memoir, part advice book, Black delivers a poignant answer to an urgent question: How can we be, and raise, better men? A Better Man is for parents, yes, but it is also for anyone looking for a path forward as we navigate the complex gender issues of our time.

• ISBN13: 9781616209117
• Publish Date: 1 October 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 23 December 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Algonquin Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Mostly Solid (More Than Jello, Less Than Steak) Advice From Father To Son On The Event Of The Son Leaving For College. And with that long-ass title out of the way... :D Seriously, this is a near-perfect letter of advice about life, love, and other mysteries from father to son as the son heads off to college and happens to have a celebrity dad. His statements about mass shootings are 100% incorrect in a couple of places, and his statements about Ayn Rand and White Guilt are philosophically incorrect (but in line with expectations given his own liberal philosophy), but otherwise what Black writes here rings true. And nearly as importantly, the love for his son rings through even louder than any moral or philosophical point he makes here. This is a type of letter than nearly any man wishes his dad would have left him, and Black truly does an excellent job of showing his own thinking and philosophies about the various issues discussed. In the end, I personally would love a celebrity from the right - as well as one of the very few celebrity anarchists such as possibly Woody Harrelson - to write similar public letters for their own kids, as between the three one would likely get an even stronger overall look at the topic at hand. But for exactly what it is, this truly is a phenomenal work with a quibble here or there, and very much recommended.