Overview

At a time of astonishing confusion about what it means to be a man, Brad Miner has recovered the oldest and best ideal of manhood: the gentleman. Reviving a thousand-year tradition of chivalry, honor, and heroism, The Compleat Gentleman provides the essential model for twenty-first-century masculinity. Despite our confusion, real manhood is not complicated. It is an ancient ideal based on service to one's God, country, family, and friends--a simple but arduous ideal worthy of a lifetime of struggle. Miner's gentleman stands out for his dignity, restraint, and discernment. He rejects the notion that one way of behaving is as good as another. He belongs to an aristocracy of virtue, not of wealth or birth. Proposing neither a club nor a movement, Miner describes a lofty code of manly conduct, which, far from threatening democracy, is necessary for its survival. Miner traces the concept of manliness from the jousting fields of the twelfth century to the decks of the Titanic. The three masculine archetypes that emerge--the warrior, the lover, and the monk--combine in the character of the compleat gentleman. This modern knight cultivates a martial spirit in defense of the true and the beautiful. He treats the opposite sex with the passionate respect required by courtly love. And he values learning in the pursuit of truth--all with the discretion, decorum, and nonchalance that the Renaissance called sprezzatura. The Compleat Gentleman is filled with examples from the past and the present of the man our increasingly uncivilized age demands.

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9781665017909

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A romp through history...Recommended. -- Library Journal Erudite and witty prose...Miner's theories are consistently entertaining. -- Publishers Weekly Graceful and learned. -- New York Post Here is a welcome reminder that men can be gentlemen without turning into ladies--or louts. -- Michelle Malkin, #1 New York Times bestselling author If actual men are incapable of living up to the ideal of the gentleman, only when men generally attempt to do so, Miner provocatively implies, can humane culture be fully realized. -- Booklist Miner argues that bravery, respect for women, and devotion to the truth are needed more than ever. -- Newsday Miner writes with wit and charm. -- Wall Street Journal

Author Information

Brad Miner is the senior editor of the Catholic Thing, the daily blog of the Faith & Reason Institute. Former literary editor of National Review and the author of six books, he lives with his wife, Sydny, in Westchester County, New York. Bob Souer is a full-time professional storyteller, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator. He has narrated broadcast and nonbroadcast projects for corporations and ministries across North America. His voice has been heard on PBS, the History Channel, the Military Channel, and many other networks. He has also narrated radio and television programs for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, D. James Kennedy Ministries, SIM, and Compassion International.

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