Looking Good: Male Body Image in Modern America

By Lynne Luciano

Book Overview

A valuable examination of the tyranny of body image--this time over men Not so long ago, what the average American man did mattered more than how he looked. Since the 1970s, however, projecting the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809066378
• ISBN13: 9780809066377
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Good review

An often laugh-out-loud funny, but brief history of 20th century male vanity and ways of enhancing the male image.

The high cost of having it all

Luciano's message is both served and undermined by her mesmerizing and even-toned prose. I found myself at times wishing that she would get on a soap box and spew alarmist Vance-Packard-like jeremiads. I wanted her to denounce the predatory industries--medical, pharmaceutical, fitness, clothing, advertising--that seem to conspire to make people (in this case, men) so discontent (and preoccupied) with themselves. But Luciano is careful not to do this. The responsibility for this mad obsession with looking good (read "young") must be shared. Beginning with the 50s Organizational Man, Luciano traces how men's attitudes about themselves, their place in the economy, and their relationship with women has evolved in the last half-century. Though she presents more than adequate data (statistical and anecdotal) to make her points (her descriptions of hair-replacement and penile enlargement surgeries are not for the squeamish), it is her ability to interpret the broader economic, societal, and psychological issues that make "Looking Good" such a fascinating read.If you read and enjoy this book, you'll probably also enjoy "The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private" by Susan Bordo. Bordo's take on this subject is more personal. I find it interesting that two of the most insightful books written about men recently have come from the pens of female academics.