In this thought­ful, inspir­ing, and deeply per­son­al book, come­di­an, actor, and father Michael Ian Black gets (most­ly) seri­ous about the trou­ble with mas­culin­i­ty. In the form of a heart­felt let­ter to his col­lege-bound son — but with ideas sure to res­onate for many par­ents — he reveals his own com­pli­cat­ed rela­tion­ship with his father, explores the dam­age caused by the expec­ta­tions placed on boys to ​“man up,” and search­es for the best way to help his son be part of the solu­tion, not the prob­lem, in a world in which the word ​“mas­culin­i­ty” now goes hand in hand with ​“tox­ic.”

Part mem­oir, part advice book, Black deliv­ers a poignant answer to an urgent ques­tion: How can we be, and raise, bet­ter men? A Bet­ter Man is for par­ents, yes, but it is also for any­one look­ing for a path for­ward as we nav­i­gate the com­plex gen­der issues of our time.