Politics and Prose
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Michael Andor Brodeur — Swole: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle - with Janice Page
Posted
July 1, 2024
Views
1,065
Likes
16
Engagement
1.50%
July 1, 2024
1,065
16
1.50%
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51:48Now PlayingWatch author Michael Andor Brodeur's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.
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Michael Brodeur is a Gen-X gay writer with a passion for bodybuilding and an insatiable curiosity about masculinity--a concept in which many men are currently struggling to find their place. In our current moment, where "manfluencers" on TikTok tease their audiences with their latest videos, where right-wing men espouse the importance of being "alpha," as toxic masculinity and the patriarchy are being rightfully criticized, the nature of masculinity has become murkier than ever.
In excavating this complex topic, Brodeur uses the male body as his guide: its role in cultures from the gymnasia of ancient Greece to Walt Whitman's essays on manly health, from the rise of Muscular Christianity in 19th-century America to the swollen superheroes and Arnold Schwarzeneggers of Brodeur's childhood. Interweaving history, cultural criticism, memoir, and reportage, laced with an irrepressible wit, Brodeur takes us into the unique culture centered around men's bodies, probing its limitations and the promise beyond: how men can love themselves while rejecting the aggression, objectification, and misogyny that have for so long accompanied the quest to become swole.
Michael Andor Brodeur has been the classical music critic at The Washington Post since 2020. Previously he held editorial and staff-writer positions at The Boston Globe and Boston's Weekly Dig. His essays, humor and criticism have also appeared in Nylon, Thrillist, Entrepreneur, Medium, McSweeney's Internet Tendency and other publications. He has also released five music albums under different monikers, most recently writing and performing electronic music under the name New Dad.
Brodeur is in conversation with Janice Page, an arts editor at The Washington Post. She was previously deputy managing editor for arts and newsroom innovation at The Boston Globe, executive producer of MSN’s and an arts editor and writer at The Los Angeles Times and The Providence JournalBulletin. She is forever grateful to have cut her journalistic teeth as managing editor of the weekly Old Colony Memorial in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the most famous attraction is a rock.
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Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online.
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