“Raw intimate and true . . . A Better Man cracked me wide open and its a template for the conversation we need to be having with our boys.” —Peggy Orenstein bestselling author of Boys & Sex 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 mas“Raw intimate and true . . . A Better Man cracked me wide open and its a template for the conversation we need to be having with our boys.” —Peggy Orenstein bestselling author of Boys & Sex 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.In a world in which the word masculinity now often goes hand in hand with toxic comedian actor and father Michael Ian Black offers up a way forward for boys men and anyone who loves them. Part memoir part advice book and written as a heartfelt letter to his college-bound son A Better Man reveals Blacks own complicated relationship with his father explores the damage and rising violence caused by the expectations placed on boys to “man up” and searches for the best way to help young men be part of the solution not the problem. “If we cannot allow ourselves vulnerability” he writes “how are we supposed to experience wonder fear tenderness?” Honest funny and hopeful Black skillfully navigates the complex gender issues of our time and delivers a poignant answer to an urgent question: How can we be and raise better men?(less)