Man Down: Why Men Are Unhappy and What We Can Do About It - Softcover

Rudd, Matt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349424829 ISBN 13: 9780349424828

Publisher: Piatkus Books, 2022

Synopsis

'The most honest, most revealing - and funniest - exploration of male mental health I have ever read' Adam Kay

'Matt Rudd may have written the most important book in a generation' Idle Society

On the surface, men today don't have much to complain about. At work, they still get paid more than women for doing the same jobs. At home, they still shirk most of the unpaid labour. Putting the bins out does not count.

Beneath the surface, it's a different story. An alarming number of men end up anxious, exhausted, depressed - and very reluctant to admit they are. Even if they do everything that's expected of them in work, life and fatherhood, genuine happiness is still elusive. By midlife, their levels of stress are higher and their levels of wellbeing are lower - and work-life balance turns out to be just a cruel illusion.

The evidence is clear and ironic: the system set up by men for men doesn't work for men either. It is making none of us happy.

In Man Down, Matt Rudd takes the long view on this perplexing paradox. Drawing on stories from his own life, and the varied lives of the other men he has interviewed, he goes back to the beginning to consider what makes the modern man - how the seeds of midlife misery are sown in the school playground and cultivated through adolescence and into adulthood. By turns compassionate and provocative, Man Down asks the important question: is midlife unhappiness inevitable? Spoiler alert: it isn't.

About this title

About the Author

Matt Rudd is Deputy Editor at The Sunday Times Magazine which he joined in 2002. Matt's column, Man Trouble, for which he was awarded columnist of the year at the 2019 BSME awards, appears in The Sunday Times Magazine. His debut novel, William Walker's First Year of Marriage: A Horror Story, was published in 2009, followed a year later by William's Progress. His first non-fiction book, The English: A Field Guide, was published in 2014.

From the Back Cover

This book is essential' Sathnam Sanghera

'Matt Rudd may have written the most important book in a generation' Idle Society

'Touchingly honest, and extremely funny' The Times

On the surface, men today don't have much to complain about. At work, they still get paid more than women for doing the same jobs. At home, they still shirk most of the unpaid labour. (Putting the bins out does not count.)

Beneath the surface, it's a different story. An alarming number of men end up anxious, exhausted, depressed - and very reluctant to admit they are. By midlife, their levels of stress are higher and their levels of wellbeing are lower - and work-life balance turns out to be just a cruel illusion.

In Man Down, Matt Rudd draws on stories from his own life and their varied lives of the men he has interviewed to go back to the beginning to consider what makes the modern man - how the seeds of midlife crisis are sown in the school playground and cultivated through adolescence and into adulthood. By turns compassionate and provocative, Man Down asks the important question: is midlife unhappiness inevitable? Spoiler alert: it isn't.

Edition details

• Publisher: Piatkus Books
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0349424829
• ISBN 13: 9780349424828
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224