The Manly Modern, the first major book on the history of masculinity in Canada, traces the history of what happened when men’s supposed modernity became one of their defining features. Through a series of case studies covering such diverse subjects as car culture, mountaineering, war veterans, murder trials, and a bridge collapse, Christopher Dummitt argues that the very idea of what it meant to be modern was gendered. A strong current of anti-modernist sentiment bubbled just beneath the surface of postwar masculinity, creating rumblings about the state of modern manhood that, ironically, mirrored the tensions that burst forth in 1960s gender radicalism.

Christopher Dummitt is associate professor of history in the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University.

Christopher Dummitt's profile page

A revised version of Dummitt’s doctoral dissertation, the book is a series of case studies…. The result is a polished, well-written, and provocative exploration of two phenomena that remain understudied by Canadian historians. …The Manly Modern is a stimulating and valuable study.

Labour / Le Travail, Vol.61, 2008