Mansfield's Book of Manly Men by Stephen Mansfield

I don't normally address the look of a book but the first thing I noticed about this book was its cover. One is not to judge a book by such but the look of this book gives the appearance of something from time gone past. It made me feel like I was reading a book that a refined gentleman of the later 1800's and early 1900's would entertain.

With that, the content of the book is built around four maxims and then the areas is which those maxims are exercised. The maxims are:

-Manly men do manly things

-Manly men tend their fields

-Manly men build manly men

-Manly men live to the glory of God

From these maxims, Mansfield goes into the second part of the book: how men live out these maxims. Areas such as honor, legacy, friendship, humor, and vision are some of the areas in which men need to exercise the manly maxims.

Mansfield gives examples of men in time gone past as well as the 20^th century that lived out these maxims in a particular area. Winston Churchill was used for legacy, Jabez for honor, and Rudyard Kipling for vision are but a few of the examples used. Mansfield used these great men as models to give life to each trait and challenge men to do the same. One thing that constant throughout the book is that real men act. To do otherwise is to reject the four maxims.

I particularly enjoyed the quote at each end of a chapter. Each quote summarized and solidified the preceding content and also inspired the reader to take to heart what was read. While an easy read, it was inspiring nonetheless.

In addition, Mansfield gave suggested resources via quotes, books, and movies that a manly man should use. Hopefully these, paired with the book, will cause men to be what God has created them to be: manly men. 

*I received this complimentary copy in exchange for my review from Booksneeze.com*