Gods In Everyman: A New Psychology of Men's Lives and Loves Book

Gods in Everyman is Bolen's follow-up to Goddesses in Everywoman, and I will certainly get to that one this year because this book was deeply insightful. I insist that it's damn near impossible to not see parts of yourself and every man and boy in your life in the eight Greek god archetypes explored in this text. I think I ended up aligning most with Dionysus, Hephaestus and Poseidon, and it was a lot easier to see the archetypes at work than one might think.

To get the most out of her vision, it may take at least a certain level of appreciation for psychoanalysis and the archetypal work of, say, Jung or Joseph Campbell, but this is a book that can speak to anyone, especially at a time when toxic masculinity is being unpacked so vigilantly and necessarily. A lot of that conversation holds men accountable without understanding why the men in our lives we love are the way they are. All men are not alike and when one man veers from the expectation, it isn't a case of "you are just an exception to the rule." Masculinity is much more complex than that. As a feminist text, Jean Shinoda Bolen's book critiques patriarchy but also aims to transform it. Instead, she guides men, straight and queer'as well as the women who love them'in finding wholeness, balance of spirit, responsibility to others, and psychological health.

I can't recommend this book more highly to male readers and anyone that wants to understand their sons, fathers, and/or partners. She even insists that women will find some of these archetypes at play in their lives. It's all in this book, folks! Now I can't wait to read about the Goddesses>.