WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:

Weekend///
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Scott Galloway wrote Notes on Being a Man hoping to emancipate our boys from the shackles of anxiety and depression. Does he succeed? Christine Rosen gives us a review.

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“At the beginning of his book, Galloway notes that he was surprised to learn about rising rates of depression, anxiety, unemployment, and general malaise among boys and young men, and he credits Richard Reeves, who runs the American Institute for Boys and Men, with raising awareness of these social problems in recent years. Like many on the cultural left, both Galloway and Reeves arrived late to the party. More than 25 years ago, scholar Christina Hoff Sommers exposed bias against boys in educational institutions and other challenges facing men in The War Against Boys, and writers like Norah Vincent explored the cultural norms surrounding masculinity—in Vincent’s case, by living as a man for a year-and-a-half, which she chronicled in her 2006 book, Self-Made Man.

“Galloway is forthright about his lack of credentials in this arena: ‘I have no training on the subject of boys and men, either as an academic or a therapist. I haven’t devoted my life to being a good man, a good citizen—when I was younger, my sole focus was on becoming wealthy,’ he writes. And yet, this might make him an ideal person to reach today’s young men, those devoted Huberman Lab podcast listeners who are open to practical advice about creatine and bro-splits but also might secretly connect to Galloway’s forthright description of himself: ‘I’m a loner, an introvert who’s dealt his whole life with mild depression and anger issues.’”

“Galloway is at his best when he invokes his experiences as a guide (or a warning). Looking back, he is brutally honest about his childhood character deficiencies and astute about the challenges of the ‘caste system’ of adolescence. He credits a friendship with a Mormon boy and another with an athlete for keeping him away from the dangers of serious substance abuse. He also acknowledges the handful of kind adults who saw potential in him and encouraged it, even when his behavior at the time might not have warranted it. ‘Be kind. Ask for help. Model yourself on—learn from—the people who’ve helped you,’ he writes, in one of many maxims he offers up throughout the book.”