Originally published: 1999. With new pref. and reader's companion

The road not taken: turning boys away from their inner life -- Thorns among roses: the struggle of young boys in early education -- The high cost of harsh discipline -- The culture of cruelty -- Fathers and sons: a legacy of desire and distance -- Mothers and sons: a story of connection and change -- Inside the fortress of solitude -- Boys' struggle with depression and suicide -- Drinking and drugs: filling the emotional void -- Romancing the stone: from heartfelt to heartless relations with girls -- Anger and violence -- What boys need

Offers insight into the behaviors and feelings of boys, examining the question of what boys need to become emotionally whole men, and arguing that American culture is forcing boys into lives of isolation, shame, and anger by suppressing their emotional lives in service to ideals of manhood

"A living planet book."