Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man

In this ground-breaking new book, Thomas Page McBee, a trans man, trains to fight in a charity match at Madison Square Garden while struggling to untangle the vexed relationship between masculinity and violence.Through his experience of boxing – learning to get hit, and to hit back; wrestling with the camaraderie of the gym; confronting the betrayals and strength of his own body – McBee examines the weight of male violence, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and the limitations of conventional masculinity. A wide-ranging exploration of gender in our society, Amateur is ultimately a story of hope, as McBee traces a way forward: a new masculinity, inside the ring and out of it.A graceful and uncompromising exploration of living, fighting and healing, in Amateur we gain insight into the stereotypes and shifting realities of masculinity today through the eyes of a new man.

Reviews of Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man

Thomas Page McBee writes about manhood – in all its danger and damaged allure – more beautifully and with greater nuance than any other writer I know. Man Alive is a brilliant, necessary book — GARTH GREENWELL, author of What Belongs to You A sweet, tender hurt of a memoir . . . McBee shows us what it takes to become a man who is gloriously, gloriously alive — ROXANE GAY, author of Bad Feminist Like sitting with someone uncurling his hands, then holding them out to you, open, so that you can behold all the hard-won strength, insight, agility, and love to be found there — MAGGIE NELSON, author of The Argonauts Empathy is McBee's objective, the most important part of becoming real in one's own eyes . . . we are born human; with hard work, we achieve humanity * * New York Times * * A vitally important book. McBee's story harnesses the power of self-inquiry, of generosity, of a transformation powerful enough to address even the fallout from child abuse * * Los Angeles Review of Books * * By turns despairing and hopeful, exceptional and relatable. To read it is to witness the birth of a fuller, truer self — ANN FRIEDMAN * * New York Magazine * * McBee's beautifully written story is engrossing and brave, and rings with triumph * * Buzzfeed * * A brilliant work of art. I bow down to McBee – his humility, his sense of humour, his insightfulness, his structural deftness, his ability to put into words what is often said but rarely, with such visceral clarity and beauty, communicated — HEIDI JULAVITS, author of The Vanishers A story about patience, forgiveness, kindness and bravery . . . With this book, Thomas Page McBee has done exactly what we should all strive for: to tell our stories in ways that humanise rather than sensationalise — LAUREN MORELLI, writer, Orange Is the New Black Well aware that memory and identity rarely follow a linear path, Thomas Page McBee attempts to answer the question, "What does it really mean to be a man?" Weaving past and present to do so, the book's journey connects violence, masculinity and forgiveness. McBee has an intelligent heart, and it beats in every sentence of this gorgeous book — SAEED JONES, author of Prelude to Bruise