Western civilization has no more eloquent defender than Anthony Esolen, a
man who has counted the cost, and paid it, of leading the way in that
defense. Following on his compelling prior volume,
Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity,
Professor Esolen returns, this time in defense of boys and an
experience of boyhood that is on the wane, if not extinguished in many
quarters of the modern world—and to illuminate the threats our precious
sons face from
harridans, harpies, and all purveyors
and promoters of political correctness and of the misguided and
ultimately doomed-though not before it has done much mischief-project of
blurring the distinctions between boys and girls.
Drawing on
his own, in many ways all-American boyhood, Esolen, at times wistfully,
at times, playfully, and at times prophetically—in the literal sense of
employing the thunder of an Old Testament prophet, details what a good
boyhood once was and what it can be again. He does so in chapters
inspiringly titled:
The Arena to Enter
Brothers to Gather
Mountains to Climb
The Man to Follow
Work to Do
Songs to Sing
Enemies to Slay
Life to Give
Anthony Esolen prescribes a return to sanity to an insane world. He may
not be able to change the world, but enter into the world of boyhood
with him and he just might change you and the lives of the boys you
love.