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And Now We Shall Do Manly Things: DISCOVERING MY MANHOOD THROUGH THE GREAT (AND NOT-SO-GREAT) AMERICAN HUNT
Author:
Heimbuch, Craig J.
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Class:
799.2028
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: SK35.5
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ISBN-13: 9780062197863
LCCN: 2012285211
Imprint: William Morrow
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Pub Date: 10/30/2012
Availability: Available
List: $20.99
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Trade Paper
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Physical Description:
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x, 326 p. ; 24 cm.
H 8",
W 5.31",
D 0.76",
0.58 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
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Bibliographies:
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Awards:
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Starred Reviews:
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TIPS Subjects:
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Sports
Social Sciences/Sociology
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BISAC Subjects: |
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
SPORTS & RECREATION / Hunting
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LC Subjects:
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Heimbuch, Craig J
Hunting, Humor
Hunting, United States, Anecdotes
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Publisher Annotations | 07/11/2012 |
| In the tradition of Bill Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods' and A.J. Jacobs's 'The Know-It-All', Heimbuch's 'And Now We Shall Do Manly Things' takes a wry look at some of our most deeply-cherished cultural beliefs and encourages men to reassess their definitions of manhood. During his journey he discovers it is possible to be an active father, loving spouse, and hunter, without being mistaken for a gun-toting lunatic. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| Booklist | 09/15/2012 |
| Heimbuch, whose Chasing Oliver Hazard Perry (2010) chronicled his journey to rediscover a (mostly) forgotten piece of American history that had captivated him since he was a child, here continues his exploration of his family and his own place in it. A suburban version of the Midwestern Man (note the author's capitalization there), Heimbuch, searching for a way to become, well, manlier, decides to take up hunting. After all, his father and his relatives are hunters, and they hold an annual pheasant hunt, so it seems an apt choice. The author, a journalist by trade, seems to have approached it like a writing project, beginning with preliminary research (determining what his prey will be, attending an NRA convention to get the right cultural background) and moving on to practical concerns (obtaining a hunting license, learning to shoot, and, of course, actually hunting something). Lighthearted but with a serious message--it's never too late to reconnect with your family--the book isn't about hunting so much as it is about a man's fumbling attempts to redesign himself according to his mind's image of what sort of man he should be. Pitt, David. 336p. Booklist Online. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2012. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 10/01/2012 |
| A journalist attempts to reclaim his flagging manhood through hunting. Online family-issues guru (manofthehouse.com) Heimbuch (Chasing Oliver Hazard Perry, 2010) roots this book in his desire to suddenly live up to the manly Midwestern values of his avid hunter father, who one day gave his son a 12-gauge shotgun as a gift. Heimbuch had been outdoorsy--fly fisherman, gearhead and L.L. Bean enthusiast--but had never ventured into gun-toting territory. The author's quest to validate his manhood via pheasant hunting soon goes beyond the father-son issues into more of a personal challenge to break out of his blandly routinized life as a small-time reporter and dutiful husband. Along the way, the book derives its comedic appeal from Heimbuch's built-in liberal defenses against the largely conservative gun culture he had to force himself to confront. In fact, his inaugural visit to the NRA's Rivers of Freedom convention became the perfect opportunity to mine his combination of disgust and wide-eyed fascination with this gun-nut spectacle (complete with an appearance by gun-loving former rocker Ted Nugent) for comedic gold. The conflicted author then headed out for the wilds of Iowa to test his newfound resolve as a pheasant hunter, and he devotes the second half of the book to the unintentional humor that naturally comes out of a newbie hunter chasing elusive feathered creatures around in a forest. But Heimbuch doggedly persevered, and in the end, his noble quest to become a successful gamesman narrowly avoids anticlimax. Although the book essentially thrives on self-deprecating humor, there are some well-illustrated lessons about the unexpected benefits of stepping outside comfortable workaday routines to get a clearer perspective on one's potential as a human being. A lightweight but entertaining seriocomic search for selfhood. 320pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2012. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 09/03/2012 |
| Journalist Heimbuch believes that, unlike his dad, he "never really felt like a grown-up." He never loses sight of the fact that he is a husband, but he has strong doubts about his manhood and unfulfilled potential: "I was 85 percent of the way there. But I wanted to know what it felt like to be the man in my household, the way I had always viewed my dad." He decides to learn what it means to hunt, having never done so himself, but knowing that since he is from "a long line of hunters" he would "kill something and everything would be better." He proceeds to detail his development through a series of sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet, and always well-paced adventures: attending a National Rifle Association show where he feels "there's bound to be a lot of guns for me to touch and mount as if I know what I'm doing"; taking his hunter's permit course and realizing that it is as "insultingly easy" as taking a driver's exam. But the final part of the book takes a strange turn, after Heimbuch describes how his first kill (a grouse) gave him "an awakening of purpose," and it is hard to take him seriously when he concludes that his yearlong project "was about understanding the relationship between men and the things they are passionate about." (Nov.). 320p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2012. |
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9780062197863,dl.it[0].title
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