Mythopoetic Perspectives of Men's Healing Work An Anthology for Therapists and Others

Subjects:

• Psychology » Clinical Psychology
• Sociology » Men's Studies
• Psychology » Psychology (General)

Reviews:

• For therapists, this book is a good introduction to a rapidly growing body of theory in men's psychology. It is important on two fronts. Firstly, it births the beginning of more mainstream academic investigation in this area (previous texts have been based in grassroots experience and relatively little formal academic investigation has been conducted in this field), and secondly because the volume provides a broad range of opinion and debate....[M]ythopoetic Perspectives of Men's Healing Work offers the reader a number of important psychosocial entry points into this rapidly expanding men's movement. The text is a good base from which more specific enquiry may extend, and educates the reader in most of the fundamental issues at play in this this arena. Barton's book may be seen as a brave attempt to capture some of the seminal debates in a relatively under researched field that is growing in both depth and scope, and which is influencing some of our fundamental assuptions about men.
  —Mantis Winter 2002
• A useful recruiting tool for any psychologically-inclined professionals you may know who have limited exposure to the movement, and for any open-minded intellectuals.
  —Everyman: A Men's Journal
• There is even less of these types of materials published about men at midlife involved in activities structured in a mythopoetic perspective or about men actively involved in mythopoetic men's work. This volume fills that void.
  —Mythology Book for Men
• I found the book to be very readable and an extremely thorough study of men's work and its impact on society....Mythopoetic men's work is a valuable resource for men of all ages.
  —The Loving Brotherhood Newsletter
• At last, a serious, wide-ranging exploration of the mythopoetic men's movement and its application, especially in the ManKind Project. This book provides a a wide range of insights and information that advance the debate and offer new opportunities for understanding and integration.
  —Journal of Men's Studies

• Endorsement From Robert E. Lee, Ph.D., F.A. Clin.P.: Clinical Director
  Marital and Family and Child Ecology
  Michigan State University: Barton's anthology goes well beyond Iron John and Fire in the Belly to take an unblinking, scholarly look at 'the men's movement,' the death of which has been erroneously reported. Mythopoetic Perspective of Men's Healing Work offers a philosophically sound and carefully delineated conceptualization of the mythopoetic approach to the study of men....This collection is important to anyone aspiring to any depth of knowledge, appreciation, and capability with regard to `the men's movement.'
• Endorsement From Douglas Hindman, Ph.D.
  Clinical Psychologist
  Professor Emeritus
  Eastern Kentucky University: Barton provides the most thoughtful analysis to date of the mythopoetic men's movement. This wide-ranging well balanced book will be useful to students of gender studies as well as to therapists working with men.
• Endorsement From William L. Kauth, M.S.
  Co-founder of the New Warrior Training Adventure
  and author of A Circle of Men: The Original Manual for Men's Support Groups
  : This is an amazing historical piece of work....This book draws from an extensive variety of sources to present a contemporary men's work history with a heart. The author has been there and done his work to make this research come alive.
• Endorsement From Jørgen Lorentzen
  Associate Professor of Department of Comparative Literature
  University of Oslo, Norway: This is an important book for men and women doing men's work of therapy on men....It gives hope for a better dialogue between groups who are fighting for the same goal.
• Endorsement From Philip Culbertson
  The College of Saint John the Evangelist
  author of New Adam (1992), Counseling Men (1994), and Caring for God's People (2000): Barton, long known for his commitment to the mythopoetic branch of the Men's Movement, has produced a valuable anthology of essays by sociologists, psychologists, counselors, and narratologists, to undergird the validity of the healing which so many men find within mythopoetics.
• Endorsement From Jed Diamond
  Author of Male Menopause and The Warrior's Journey Home: Healing Men, Healing the Planet: This is an extremely valuable book for all those who are men, care about men, and work with men.... I highly recommend the book to all those who care about men, boys, our families, and our communities.
• Endorsement From John Lee
  Author of The Flying Boy and Facing The Fire: Ed Barton has collected powerful, pertinent and useful ideas, wisdom and strength in his anthology. A must read for men and women.
• Endorsement From Mangesh Kulkarni
  Convener
  Forum for the Study of Indian Masculinities: I think Mythopoetic Perspective on Men's Healing Work is an excellent collection of essays on the theoretical and practical aspects of an important strand of the men's movement. It will be of use to scholars, therapists and others interested/involved in the movement. The relevance of such a book to the U.S. is obvious, but I think it will also benefit those concerned with Men's Studies/Movements elsewhere in the world. I strongly endorse and recommend this book for publication.
• Endorsement From Ralph H. Johnson
  University Professor of Philosophy
  University of Windsor
  Windsor Ontario, Canada
  and Past Chairman
  The Windsor-Detroit Board
  The ManKind Project: Ed Barton deserves much credit for putting together this anthology of articles focused on the mythopoetic approach to men's issues....This work should prove to be a tremendously useful resource for anyone teaching a college or university level course on men's issues or on gender.
• Endorsement From Charles G. Heisinger, Jr.
  Former Executive Director
  The ManKind Project: I recommend it for all members of the ManKind Project as well as anyone else working with men, their relationships, and their families of whatever configuration.
• Endorsement From Warren Farrell
  author of Why Men Are The Way They Are and Father and Child Reunion: The most thoughtful and comprehensive overview of the mythopoetic perspectives of men's healing work.
• Endorsement From John Rowan: I was very impressed by the standard of work....This is a serious book worthy of attention from anyone who wants to know about the Bly version of the mythopoetics men's movement.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• What is Mythopoetic Men's Work and Theory Building?
• Parallels Between Mythopoetic Men's Work/Men's Peer Mutual Support Groups and Selected Feminist Theories by Edward Read Barton
• Beyond the Drum: An Exploratory Study of Group Processes in a Mythopoetic Men's Group by Steve R. Wilson and Eric Mankoski
• Warriors and Fathers: ONCE WERE WARRIORS and the Mythopoetic Understanding of Men's Violence by Christopher J. Bullock
• The Mythopoetic Interpretation of Texts: Hermeneutical Considerations by David B. Perrin
• A Proposed Model for Comparing Writers in the Mythopoetic Branch of the Contemporary Men's Movement by Thomas M. Brunner
• Silencing the Men's Movement: Gender, Ideology, and Popular Discourse by Joel Morton
• Reconstructing Masculinity: Images and Life Stories of Men's Mutual Support Group Members by Eric Mankowski
• Therapeutic Applications
• The Use of Myth and Quasi-Myth in Therapy by Ross Thomas Lucas
• Working with Men from a Mythopoetic Perspective: An Integrity Therapy Framework by Nedra R. Lander and Danielle Nahon
• Object Relations Perspectives of Masculine Initiation by Wesley Goodenough
• Therapeutic Status of the Mythopoetic Approach: A Psychological Perspective by Daniel J. Richard
• Research on the ManKind Project, Formerly Known as the New Warrior Network, and the New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA)
• Collaborative Research with a Men's Organization: Psychological Impact, Group Functioning, and Organizational Growth by Eric Mankowski, Kenneth I. Maton, Christopher K. Burke, Sharon A. Hoover, and Clinton W. Anderson
• Heuristic and Ethnographic Study of the Mankind Project: Initiating Men into a "New Masculinity: or a Re-packaging of Dominant Controlling Patriarchy? by Marty Pentz
• Feminist Roundtable and Conclusion
• A Feminist Looks at the Men's Movement: Search for Common Ground by Holly Sweet
• Men and the Search for Common Ground by John Rowan
• Justice, Joy, and an End to the Gender Wars by Amanda Goldrick-Jones
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• Index