Mansfield's Book of Manly Men

An Utterly Invigorating Guide to Being Your Most Masculine Self

Pretty probably isn't the word a manly book would want to be associated with, but it is unavoidable. This book is beautiful! It was a treat to open my mail and see this thick hardcover with its cloth binding. Very pretty.

I chose this book for review because I have two manly sons in their early teen years. They love to read and there are few modern "manly" books written with them in mind. There are excellent older books and my sons' reading lists are full, so I previewed this to see if it was worth their time. It is.

The book is 304 pages of pure manliness. It begins with a foreward, which I usually skip, but highly recommend this time. The foreward was written by General William G. Boykin, former commander of Delta Force. I believe this is the first time I've highlighted and underlined anything in a foreward. I've added him to my list of books to preview.

The rest of the book is written by Stephen Mansfield, Lieutenant General. "My goal in this book is simple,” he says. “I want to identify what a genuine man does—the virtues, the habits, the disciplines, the duties, the actions of true manhood—and then call men to do it.” Mansfield defines manliness and then expounds on his 4 maxims of manhood:

Manly men do manly things.

Manly men tend their fields.

Manly men build manly men.

Manly men live to the glory of God.

The rest of the book shares character sketches of men from history and scripture, men who provide examples of how to live according to the manly maxims. It ends with a great resource list of manly quotes, books, and movies.

This isn't related to the book I'm reviewing, but if you are looking for more manly resources, you will LOVE this site: The Art of Manliness

Thomas Nelson provided an extra copy, which I would love to give away to one my readers. Be sure to enter the giveaway, following the video below.

I received this book for free from the Booksneeze program for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.