Of Boys and Men

Richard V. Reeves argues that boys and men are falling behind because of deep structural problems, not a mass psychological breakdown. Boys lag at school and college because education is organized in ways that disadvantage them, men struggle as the labour market moves away from traditionally male work, and fathers are dislocated as the provider role has been hollowed out. Reeves notes that Black men have been hit hardest, and that men without college degrees have seen wages and life expectancy fall. His proposed remedies include having boys start school a year after girls, bringing more men into caring professions and rethinking fatherhood beyond the nuclear family, alongside a positive idea of masculinity that fits with gender equality.

Tyler Cowen put it on his list of the best non-fiction books of 2022, calling its subject one of America's biggest problems.