September 23–30, 1999

book quarterly|nonfiction

Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man

By Susan Faludi, William Morrow, 650 p, $26

Men, are you feeling betrayed?

Faludi’s insightful premise is that men of the ’90s are indeed betrayed, helpless in the path of cultural forces destroying their manhood. In this monumental and surprising book, sure to make a tremendous impact on thoughtful people, she overlooks no part of the national male landscape.

With myriad on-the-spot interviews and voluminous research — she worked for six years on the book — she presents vivid and tragic pictures of male malaise. She covers job losses, sports, Vietnam veterans, Waco fires, militiamen, the porn industry, street gangs/troubled boys and celebrities (Sylvester Stallone and his dreadful father).

The serious ideas Faludi poses about the cultural forces that damage men are worth pondering. Loyalty, once the hallmark of male character, has ceased to matter, likewise dedication and duty. Loss of jobs, skills, civic roles, wives, children and the hope of a secure future have undermined traditional masculinity, and left men without the means to define themselves. And winning has become all. Disconnected to social purpose, it’s defined by consumer culture and an "enslavement to glamour" that outranks nurturing concern for others. As in her Pulitzer Prize-winning Backlash, Faludi accuses society, and documents her claims. Read Stiffed. You’ll never forget it.

—Harriette Behringer

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