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University of Wisconsin Press
FALL NONFICTION PREVIEW – PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY
BOOK EXCERPT – THE OFFING LITERARY MAGAZINE
Not all little boys want to grow up to be like their dads. The shy ones, the sensitive ones, the ones people mock as strange or call queer—sometimes they want to grow up to be loved by men who stand in for their fathers. They’ll put up with bullying from an older brother, taunts from the gym teacher, long work hours from a boss, and even discipline from a gay daddy, all as a means to discover what kind of man they truly want to be.
In this poignant and provocative memoir, Steve Majors takes us on a journey of his own self-discovery as he grows from a gay boy in search of a father figure to a gay man grappling with what it means to be a father himself.
Praise for Man Made
“An honest look at trying and failing and yearning and learning and sometimes succeeding to carve out one’s own shifting gay identity amid the storm of toxic masculinity we all must wade through since birth. These vividly rendered snapshots of childhood and family and lush encounters with a variety of men, though brief, are impactful. Majors is an incredibly wise, artful storyteller, and Man Made is a generous offering.”—Christopher Gonzalez, author of I’m Not Hungry but I Could Eat
“Much more than a ‘memoir in essays,’ Man Made takes us along the arc of Majors’s life with candor, poignancy, and at times piercing wisdom. Its meditations on gayness, masculinity norms, parenting, and racial identity are deeply resonant with our times, and there were moments when, as a gay man, I found the book all too relatable. Majors’s prose flies off the page and pierces the heart.”—Michael Sadowski, author of Men I’ve Never Been
“Steve Majors writes from experience with a clear eye and a steady hand. I trust him: he is blunt about his mistakes and open about his loves. This book is a glorious reminder that life has no instruction manual—you figure it out as you go.”—James Whorton Jr., author of Angela Sloan
“In its frankness and willingness to say what is hardly ever said about Black gay experience, Man Made does what all good books do—shows its readers how much they are not alone. In our community, manhood is a field of contradictions, riddled with landmines. Yet Majors depicts this complexity with the wide-eyed clarity of a hopeful, innocent, and put-upon child.”— Ricky Tucker, author of And the Category Is . . .
“With moving, honest, and incisive prose, Majors unravels his lifelong search for father figures, family, and allies, as he comes of age as a gay, Gen X, multiracial Black man—and eventually becomes a father himself—in a wounded and closeted world.”—Anne Liu Kellor, author of Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging
“A quest of self-discovery told with aching tenderness and layered insights, Man Made captivates while providing context for a rethink of one’s own notions of maleness.” – Jeffrey Dale Lofton, author of Red Clay Suzie.
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