No Apologies: Why Civilization Depends on the Strength of Men is the latest in a string of brilliant offerings from Anthony Esolen: Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World, and Sex and the Unreal City. Utilizing his impressive arsenal of literature, Scripture, and mythology, Esolen defends not only the virtues of masculinity—strength, drive, ambition, and determination to build and uphold civilization—but exults in the historic accomplishments of men and their role as protectors and defenders.
Esolen doesn’t deconstruct feminism—he demolishes it. He occasionally makes the eyeballs bulge (such as when he wonders whether doing away with household voting was the right move), and spends several chapters explaining why men are the physically stronger sex—not the sort of thing that used to be controversial. But fundamentally, Esolen advocates for a biblically rooted manhood that recognizes and embraces responsibility. Esolen defends men as men—as fathers, as builders, as defenders of women and children.
