Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man

In the literary tradition of Maggie Nelson and Grayson Perry, award-winning writer Thomas Page McBee, the first transgender man to box at Madison Square Garden, examines the relationship between masculinity and violence.A wide-ranging exploration of masculinity now, Amateur is a provocative and thoughtful journey through gender in the workplace, the home, and the boxing gym. Thomas examines his uneasy relationship with violence, the distinct benefits of inhabiting a man’s place in the world, and the downsides of living within the lines of gender stereotypes. In interviews with experts, academics, and executives, he interrogates contemporary masculinity as he journeys towards greater understanding in the ring and in his life outside of it. Visceral. intellectual and intimate, Amateur is a stunning examination of what it means to be a man today.

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

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 Exquisitely written and bristling with emotion, this important book reminds us of how much vulnerability and violence inheres to any identity. A real achievement of form and narrative — JACK HALBERSTAM, author of The Queer Art of Failure