Man Enough?: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the Politics of Presidential Masculinity

Katz (The Macho Paradox) looks at presidential elections with the provocative thesis that they can be seen as "competitions not only between divergent political ideologies but also between two (or three) distinct versions of masculinity." Since 1972, conservatives have profited from emphasizing a masculinity associated with white, middle-class men, and painting liberals as softies only concerned with "abortion, amnesty, and acid." The author takes the reader through the elections chronologically, focusing on instances when gender stereotypes figured most prominently, either in reinforcing or challenging patriarchal assumptions. In discussing the 2008 primaries with Obama and Clinton, he says, "each candidate had adopted a style%E2%80%94whether it came naturally or not%E2%80%94that their gender and race seemed to require, as they embarked on terrain that had previously been reserved for white men." He analyzes Trump's appeal and Clinton's challenges in the current election as well as the influence of Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk radio hosts. Thoroughly researched and documented, this book illuminates the intersection of gender, race, and politics. (Apr.)