The Fatherhood Manifesto is here!
Just in time for Father's Day - in print and on Kindle and Apple Books. (The audiobook is coming soon.)
TODAY’S THE DAY.
BUY THE FATHERHOOD MANIFESTO IN PRINT FOR $9.99!
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Even the left has noticed fathers need a boost.
The New York Times just ran a pre-Father’s Day piece from Ms. Darby Saxbe extolling the virtues of fatherhood: Ultimately, the traits of a good dad are also the traits of a good man: strength coupled with a willingness to look out for the young and vulnerable, to teach but also listen, to lead by example, to tackle daunting challenges and to persevere with grit…
Yes! I couldn’t agree more.
One problem, though. Once again, the Times thinks conversations about masculinity and fatherhood are too important to be left to, well, fathers.
Ms. Saxbe is right: it is time to “elevate a positive, prosocial version of masculinity.” And though I’m not a clinical psychologist like she is, I have one qualification she never will: I am the dad of three kids.
I wrote The Fatherhood Manifesto both to try to capture what I have learned in 50 practical (and hopefully sometimes funny) ways and to explain WHY fathers matter.
It is hard to believe such an effort is necessary — but after generations of overt cultural contempt for fathers, and masculinity more generally, it is.
I designed the manifesto to be short enough to read in a couple of quick sittings and to hold the attention of even the busiest dad. It combines some (hopefully) useful specific advice with broader arguments against the “gentle parenting” style that our culture has tried to force on fathers.
The Fatherhood Manifesto looks like the original Unreported Truths series, and that’s no accident. Like UT, there’s nothing revolutionary about what I’m saying: the revolution is simply that I’m saying it at all.
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As we get closer to Father’s Day, I will run an excerpt from The Fatherhood Manifesto (and another well-known outlet plans to do so too).
But today is publication day. A bunch of you have already told me you want to order it.
The Apple Books version is $3.99.
The audiobook is… coming soon. (Sorry, I hadn’t self-published in a while, I forgot the publication schedule.)
And if you have a really big family… or are interested in buying 20 or more signed copies for some other reason… let me know and I will try to figure out how to get those to you!
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Will the New York Times or any other legacy media outlet cover The Fatherhood Manifesto?
I doubt it. After all, fatherhood is too important to be left to fathers.
But my dream is to sell enough copies that they’ll have to - and not just give individual dads advice, but maybe change the cultural conversation around fatherhood a bit.
Yes, let’s Make Fathers Great Again.
This is perfect timing. My wife and I welcomed our first kid into the world last Thursday.
As always, I'll make my plug for: moving to East-Central Europe! Here men are valued. It's like living in the better days of the USA, without so many of the US's past problems. I feel so much better as a father and husband here.
Obviously, most people aren't moving though, so I encourage people to find your community within the USA or Canada: move to a state/province that is more supportive of your values--on gender, lockdowns, or anything else--or else, seek out people who support your views in your local area, even if you're in one of the big coastal cities you can find your folks.
And of course congrats Alex on the hard work, I look forward to reading it, as I have your other work.