The Dangerous Book for Boys

Popmatters has posted my review of Conn and Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys. Key grafs:

I will say this: My four-year-old thinks The Dangerous Book for Boys is the greatest book I’ve ever been assigned to review. It’s the only book he’s stolen off my desk, and he asks me about pictures or stories from it almost daily. This is almost entirely the result of “Famous Battles—Part One,” “Famous Battles—Part Two,” and “A Brief History of Artillery,” though sections on astronomy and on bugs have also piqued his interest. There can be no doubt that the Iggulden brothers have a fine sense of “what boys like.”

Then again, the fact that my son recognized the topics of the book at a glance suggests that the crisis of Anglo-American boyhood might be a little overstated. (Might I suggest taking a break from Christina Hoff Sommers?) Let’s face it: As an English professor and book reviewer, I’m hardly the burliest guy out there—yet even my kid knows about soldiers and battles and the virtues of honor.

Read the whole thing!