Sunday, January 26, 2014

Mansfield's Book of Manly Men by Stephen Mansfield


    I had never read any of Stephen Mansfield's previous works before I was given a copy of Mansfield's Book of Manly Men. The author has written several popular books, primarily in the history and contemporary culture categories. His latest contribution to those fields contains a variety of history lessons from the lives of great men, whose characteristics well apply to those in our current cultural era.
    Though the book is unashamedly addressing men, the lessons contained in it's pages will be valuable to women readers also. He begins the first few chapters discussing each of Maxim's Four Manly Maxims. These are the foundations that underly the rest of the book. He then begins to discuss the character traits which he believes exemplify manliness. Each chapter discusses one topic, reviews the life of a person in history which illustrates the subject, contains questions to ask ourselves and most often recites a poem connected to the issue.
    First, I do believe the book is worth reading as every topic is valuable and the history lessons alone are great to read. However, I do not believe that the author always used the best examples from history to illustrate his points. He also does not offer a reason why these particular traits define manhood and could have easily picked 100 other topics.
   I do encourage men and women alike to learn these lessons, as the character traits are timeless and apply to each gender. I received this book for free from the book program for bloggers at www.booksneeze.com and the views expressed are my own. I hope that our lives can exemplify the character found in the stories of many n this book, that history may remember us for having an impact in the lives of others.

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