Inside the training camps for “alpha males”
March 31, 2026
45 min
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229 of 300
March 31, 2026
Inside the training camps for “alpha males”
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Episode 229 of 300 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
Inside the training camps for “alpha males”
Summary
The Trump era has brought a resurgence of the “alpha male.” ‘New Yorker’ writer Charles Bethea reports on camps where men crawl through mud and sit in ice baths, in an effort to reclaim masculinity. Bethea says what he found underneath all the warrior posturing surprised him: men in genuine pain who felt lonely and desperate for connection. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about his reporting. <br /><br />Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel by Tana French, ‘The Keeper.’<br /><br /><br />See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>
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