Why people recommend it
Iron John, a Book About Men by Robert Bly is a seminal 1990 exploration of masculinity, mythology, and psychological growth that helped launch the mythopoetic men's movement. On the podcast Behind the Bastards, host Robert Evans discussed the book across several episodes, including deep dives into figures like Andrew Tate. Evans explained that Bly wrote the book in 1990 to capture and illustrate feelings of alienation and cultural shifts that men were experiencing at the time. Furthermore, Evans noted that some of the societal observations made by Bly's followers regarding intense social atomization are valid, even if those same sentiments have later been exploited by modern internet gurus and radical movements to target vulnerable young men. Evans utilized the book as a historical anchor to explain the roots of contemporary conversations surrounding masculinity, showing how valid desires for male community and mentorship have repeatedly been co-opted by toxic figures throughout recent decades.
Who recommended it
- Robert Evans Discussed
Robert Evans — 2 mentions
“and some of what they're recognizing like with Robert bly's folks is fair there's a degree a lot of atomization in our society”
“in 1990 he writes a book that is kind of illustrating the things that he's he started to feel here and he calls it iron John a book about men”