This book explores the life of men in various contexts: work, play, prayer, war, home, and friendship. Using essays and stories, myths and history, to bring life to the subject, Bennett defines what a man should be, how he should live, and to what he should aspire.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, but successfully escaped to the north in 1832 after teaching himself to read and write. He became a masterful lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society and dedicated his life to equality. His writing helped him spread his ideas of justice, and he wrote three autobiographies, which were wildly successful around the world. Frederick advised the eight American presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Benjamin...

"When Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a rogue herd of elephants in his reserve in South Africa, it was the last chance for these elephants. If Anthony didn't take them, they would be shot. But he had no experience with elephants at all. What was he to do? Take them on, of course!" --

"Al Qaeda did not stop after 9/11. Its reign of terror continued with bombings and mayhem across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. But its frustration grew as the group failed to fundamentally undermine America and its allies. Five years later the time was ripe for another spectacular mega-plot. Fresh from masterminding the London Underground carnage, one veteran operative set in motion a new operation to destroy passenger aircraft over...

Regarded by many as the finest actor of his generation, Daniel Day-Lewis has become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. His diverse performances in roles such as cerebral palsy sufferer Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Butcher Bill in Gangs of New York have cemented his reputation as a chameleon method actor. Yet behind the on-screen personas and theatrical masks lies a complex figure about whom relatively little is really known. Acclaimed biographer...

"A legend in the biker community, Peter 'Big Pete' James was the most revered gangster in the Chicagoland Outlaws. He first perfected his skills with the Hells Angels, the Outlaws' chief rival, before persuading thousands of disgruntled members from splintered Outlaw Clubs to unite. Together they formed a powerful criminal syndicate involved in extortion, contract murders, drugs and arms trafficking, money laundering, and assassinations. Then a shocking...

"When we lose someone we love, when we suffer loss or defeat, when catastrophe strikes-war, famine, pandemic-we go in search of consolation. Once the province of priests and philosophers, the language of consolation has largely vanished from our modern vocabulary, and the places where it was offered, houses of religion, are often empty. Rejecting the solace of ancient religious texts, humanity since the sixteenth century has increasingly placed its...