Being: What Makes a Man

by Jill McCabe Johnson, James Alan Gill (Contributor), David Jacobsen (Contributor)

“Man up! Be a man!” How many times have you heard it? The personal essays and poems in the anthology What Makes a Man, edited by Jill McCabe Johnson, take a close look at the life experiences that (re)define what makes a man. From Marvin Bell sharing his experience as a soldier to Dinty Moore’s “Down in the Hole” to David Shields’ “Negotiating Against Myself,” the authors in What Makes a Man share the sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious truth about facing love, loss, fatherhood, fire, injury, war, and the ever-present challenge to “Be a man!”

140 pages, Paperback

Published April 10, 2014

About the author

Jill McCabe Johnson (she/they) is the author of three poetry books, two chapbooks, and editor of three anthologies. Her most recent poetry book, Tangled in Vow & Beseech (MoonPath, 2024), was named a finalist for the Sally Albiso and Wheelbarrow Books poetry prizes. Jill is editor-in-chief of Wandering Aengus Press and its imprint, Trail to Table Press. She spends her free time writing, hiking, and in close observation of the natural world.