Norah Vincent became an instant media sensation with the publication of Self-Made Man, her take on just how hard it is to be a man, even in a man's world. Following in the tradition of John Howard Griffin (Black Like Me), Vincent spent a year and a half disguised as her male alter ego, Ned, exploring what men are like when women aren't around. As Ned, she joined a bowling team, took a high-octane sales job, went on dates with women (and men), visited strip clubs, and even managed to infiltrate a monastery and a men's therapy group. At once thought-provoking and pure fun to read, Self-Made Man is a sympathetic and thrilling tour de force of immersion journalism.
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Writer Norah Vincent spent 18 months living as a man in different cities, engaged in different activities, so she could learn, from an outsider's perspective, what it was like to live as a man. To complete her disguise Vincent took speech lessons, bought a new wardrobe, learned makeup techniques, and more, all to blend in as seamlessly as possible. Over the course of her experiment, Vincent joined a bowling team, lived in a monastery, joined a men's support group, and worked in a sales job dominated by men. What makes the book most engaging is that Vincent, as a lesbian who had an elite education and spent her life in New York and Los Angeles, is totally open-minded about what she finds, even when it challenges everything she assumed was true about men and other parts of America.
HPB Staff Review