American Men

This immersive account from Ringer senior staff writer Conn (The Road from Raqqa) profiles four American men whose lives uniquely tangle with an “inherited masculine ideal”: Ryan, a gay man from Akwesasne Mohawk territory who struggles to accept his sexuality; Gideon, an “ex-jock” and West Point graduate whose wife cheats on him with his commander; Nate, a Black trans man “wrestling his own body and... fighting for its right to exist”; and Joseph, a law student who experiences sudden flashbacks to repressed childhood sexual abuse. Conn follows his subjects as they wrestle with identity, family conflicts, substance abuse, and mental health challenges, sensitively conveying their “rawest moments,” including Joseph witnessing “intrusive images” of his abuser’s genitalia when having sex with his wife and Ryan getting in brutal, bloody bar fights as an adult after being ruthlessly bullied as a child. Amid this pain are moments of joy and relief, like Ryan reaching cathartic release via amateur MMA fighting, or Nate’s tearful euphoria after top surgery. Conn stops short of making “grand theories” about American men other than citing numerous ways they “lag... behind their female peers” (“more likely to drop out of high school... more likely to die by suicide... more likely to abuse drugs”). Instead, he focuses, to great success, on compassionate storytelling. The result is hard to look away from. (Apr.)