In a Time of Fallen Heroes: The Re-Creation of Masculinity

The day of John Wayne and the Marlboro Man is over, assert psychologists Betcher ( Intimate Play ) and Pollack, both on staff at the Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital. Many men today, they argue, need assistance in establishing a new persona; their book, pop psychology for intellectuals, makes a valuable contribution to that quest. The authors stress the fact that a boy has to distance himself from his mother in a way that a girl does not and that this separation is a major trauma for all males, often exacerbated by the presence of a non-nurturing father. They deal with such issues as male rites of passage, adjustment to the world of work, the role of sports (not just prolonged boyhood, they claim) and, above all, love and sex. Forcefully argued but never dogmatic, this is an impressive piece of psychological analysis. (July)