One often hears that there aren’t many books out on men’s issues. This superbly-done and comprehensive 400-page annotated bibliography will convince you otherwise. It lists over 1,049 titles. The descriptive paragraphs are succinct, creatively written, and, most important, honest. Typical entries might read "In this exercise in pop psychology ... [t]he book describes the negative Macho Ideal at length, but lacks an effectively envisioned positive ideal to counteract it." Or, "Deliberately quirky and convoluted, this book ..." Or, of Dr. Joyce Brothers’ What Every Woman Should Know about Men, "Some readers may find Brothers’ discussions lucid and helpful; others may find them simplistic and occasionally condescending to men."

The book is a delight to browse through. The length, the format and the references to "men’s studies" scream "academic," but the annotations quickly disabuse you of the fear that you might encounter the try pedantry of academic writing. The paragraphs fairly summarize the books’ main thesis, an observation I confirmed by reading his descriptions of books I had reviewed. In particular, in my mind two important books that didn’t receive the attention they deserved are Wildmen, Warriors and Kings: Masculine Spirituality and the Bible by the late Jesuit priest Patrick Arnold, and Gregory Max Vogt's Return to Father: Archetypal Dimensions of the Patriarch. Professor August’s descriptions quickly convey the important messages of these books and demonstrate why the books are important.

The book has separate sections on mythopoesis, health, midlife, sexuality, spirituality, fatherhood, divorce, feminism, men’s rights, erotica, sports, and other topics. I might complain that some of the most important recent books (e.g. Malidoma Somé’s biography Of Water and the Spirit, Alan Chinen’s Once Upon a Midlife and Beyond the Hero, or Joseph Jastraub’s Sacred Manhood, Sacred Earth are not present, but that argues only that we need a Third Edition soon.

The book keeps a clear male-positive focus. It is the first book I’ve seen that picks up Patrick Arnold’s definition of misandry, or anti-male sexism, and the related term androphobia, an irrational fear and loathing of men. If Professor August’s words, "misandry and androphobia continue to be such acceptable forms of sexism in large segments of modern society that they often go unnoticed and unprotested. In the present annotations, misandry and androphobia are neither ignored or tolerated."