To call The Man Problem a book that challenges our normal understanding of the history of masculinity would be an understatement. Rather, The Man Problem is explosive and devastating in its analysis. It will no doubt have the effect of shocking many readers with its radical observations about the role of men in undermining Western society, the causal chain of which lies at least as far back as the Enlightenment. Ross Honeywill argues convincingly, and with frequent reference to historical and social events, that we live in a ‘liquid present.’ This liquid present is a kind of dystopian environment, where the masculine ethos has utterly destroyed modernity – a lofty, hopefully, but ultimately flawed patriarchal enterprise – such that we are now left in a crumbling, savage aftermath where women struggle against an unequal society and men are slaves to their own bestial and violent passions. Honeywill maintains that men must wrestle internally with these violent impulses and that they may be suppressed only with great toil and self-consciousness. Yet despite this terrible and seemingly irredeemable situation Honeywill allows for the possibility of a hopeful future. For those interested in philosophy, gender studies, feminism and cultural theory, The Man Problem is a new and indispensable study.

Dr James Stewart is a researcher, academic and author.