Book Reviews
Makes us see the larger picture...this provocative book is not so much about the end of men but the end of male supremacy...The great strength of Ms. Rosin's argument is that she shows how these changes in sex, love, ambition and work have little or nothing to do with hard-wired brain differences or supposed evolutionary destiny. They occur as a result of economic patterns, the unavailability of marriageable men, and a global transformation in the nature of work.
Wall Street Journal
Ambitious and surprising....[The End of Men is] solidly researched and should interest readers who care about feminist history and how gender issues play out in the culture.... A nuanced, sensitively reported account of how cultural and economic forces are challenging traditional gender norms and behavior.
Boston Globe
Pinpoints the precise trajectory and velocity of the culture.... Rosin’s book, anchored by data and aromatized by anecdotes, concludes that women are gaining the upper hand.
Washington Post
Refreshing...Rosin's book may be the most insightful and readable cultural analysis of the year, bringing together findings from different fields to show that economic shifts and cultural pressures mean that in many ways, men are being left behind...The End of Men is buttressed by numbers, but it's a fascinating read because it transcends them... Rosin's genius was to connect these dots in ways no one else has for an unexpected portrait of our moment. The End of Men is not really about a crisis for men; it's a crisis of American opportunity.
Los Angeles Times
Especially timely.... Rosin has her finger squarely on the pulse of contemporary culture...fresh and compelling.
USA Today
Rosin is a gifted storyteller with a talent for ferreting out volumes of illustrative data, and she paints a compelling picture of the ways women are ascendant
Time
A persuasive, research-grounded argument.... The most interesting sections in The End of Men show that in the portions of the country where, through culture and money, something like equality between the sexes is being achieved, the differences between them collapse.
Esquire
Heralds the ways current economic and societal power shifts are bringing 'the age of testosterone' to a close and the consequences.
Vanity Fair
Following up on her Atlantic cover story of two summers ago, Rosin (senior editor, Atlantic; God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission To Save America) uses the same provocative title here to show that there has been a power shift in America, with men no longer dominant. She points to the fact that many more women are wage earners and that they are more likely than men to go to college, but she does not fully consider the additional reality that women wage earners still earn substantially less than men over a lifetime and that although they have made gains as lawyers and physicians, that is a narrow segment of American workers. The fact that women are virtually invisible among electricians, plumbers and masons, although they make up more than 96 percent of secretaries, 95 percent of childcare workers, and 88 percent of health-care aides, argues against there being a major shift in gender roles in American society as a whole, as Rosin believes. Verdict: Although Rosin thinks that all we have to do is wait to encounter a complete shift in the paradigm of gender in the United States, and although she presents many observations about progress for women, the facts on the ground make her argument unpersuasive: the end of men has been widely exaggerated. Consider this an optional purchase. —Cynthia Harrison, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC
Library Journal
Atlantic senior editor Rosin (God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America, 2007), co-founder of Slate's women's section, DoubleX, argues that women are more likely than men to succeed in the modern workforce. The author conducted extensive interviews with women of various backgrounds, from the Midwest to Korea. She bases her argument partly on the flexibility of women and partly on the fact that employers are beginning to value characteristics stereotypically attributed to women, such as empathy. Rosin suggests that the world may be headed toward a matriarchy. It is refreshing to find optimism in a book about the gender gap, but in some cases it seems that women haven't progressed as much as men have fallen behind. In several of the households Rosin discusses, what has made the women the main breadwinners is not just drive, but the fact that their men don't hold steady jobs. Most of those men do not completely fulfill domestic duties either, leaving the women to work both outside and inside the home. Though she later takes up the issue of splitting household duties, Rosin glosses over it early on to paint a picture of matriarchal utopia. The author covers an impressive amount of ground about women, including the professions they dominate, how they can rise to the top, and their relationship to casual sex. Particularly interesting is Rosin's examination of female violence. She shows that as women gain power, they encompass the negative traits that were once only attributed to men, therefore countering the myth that a world ruled by women would be more peaceful. A great starting point for readers interested in exploring the intersecting issues of gender, family and employment.
Kirkus Reviews