Backbone - 9781780288284

There is an energy crisis in America. Masculine energy—the energy that makes men strong and fearless, wise and giving—is on the wane. Everywhere you look, from pop culture to politics you see the effects. Doofus dads. Potbellied windbags. Metrosexuals. We have Dudes and Guys aplenty, but few Men.

Spiritual Teacher, author, and men's group leader David H. Wagner is on a mission to change that. “We need masculine energy,” he writes. “We need men who know how it works and how to get it into gear.”

Wagner fearlessly tackles the issues that got us here. The women’s movement. Our intense sexual energy. Our propensity towards violence. Our lack of decent role models. “We all have Bullshit,” he says. “Owning it is the first step. Next comes figuring out what your purpose is. When we do this, everyone wins.”

Since the 1950’s women have been on a massive evolutionary curve as they’ve stepped up to assume more powerful positions in the world. Over these same decades, men, for the most part, have taken a step back to help this process to happen. Women have been forced to empower themselves and develop themselves in many inner and outer ways. But the many resources that evolved to help women grow and transform like yoga, therapy, and other kinds of “heart work” have done so in a way that is not particularly man-friendly.

This book represents the creation of something needed today—a masculine paradigm for transformational work. Wagner wants men—all kinds of men—Wall Streeters and Main Streeters, Famers and Bikers—to be able to go deep, know themselves, heal themselves, transform themselves—without sacrificing their sense of manhood. With this work, we are entering the transformational arenathrough our manhood. It’s time for men to step up and catch up. But to do it in our own way.

Spurred on by growing up with a “hen-pecked alcoholic father,” Wagner calls on his years of leading men’s groups in New York City to give men a practical, down to earth manual to manhood. Filled with exercises and questions for reflection,Backbone is set to revolutionize how men in the 21st Century relate to themselves, their country and their world.