First and foremost, I would love to see some re-issues of some of the classics from Ruark. I mean, I've managed to get the entire collection now, but I believe that if more men were exposed to this stuff, the publishers would find a whole new audience. Expand this a little bit with the really old African hunting tales, paired with Roosevelt, Hemingway, Capstick, and some more contemporary guys... A lot of folks don't read these books because they don't even know they exist.

I'd also love to see more American classic outdoors writers. Any idea how hard it was to find De Shootinest Gent'man? Why isn't that right up on the main shelf?

I could go on and on with this list... but I think the idea is there.

All part of the pussification of the American male. Real men from my generation aren't particularly fond of MMA, brawling, tatoo's, and the like. Particularly pissing away good money on books on the like.

Real men can enjoy a good drink without a book telling you what you like. Martini's, for example, have never held my interest. Hell, just take a shot of gin or vodka out of the bottle clad in a brown bag. What is the difference? A good whisky or wine will do fine.

Real men don't have to watch a bunch of fake fighting to be entertained and can issue a first class a$$ kicking if and when the need arises. We learned those skills in the military. At least I did.

Golf? Nothing wrong with that when it's too hot to fish and too early to hunt.

Thank you SHARKFIN! Carlos Hathcock is an American hero of the first order!

Wake up, men! Take your pair out of her purse and refuse to let the publishing media stereotype you as an ignorant, rude slob.

Chad,

It's the marketers, rather than the society. I hope. Last year, when a gun book that I wrote came out, the only place the marketing folks could think of to send a copy was a cowboy and western magazine. I finally made a list of all the gun mags in the US, from G&A to SWAT, etc, and had copies sent to them- the problem was that the people in that industry are urban, and they just don't know about the outdoors, and many of them consider hunting and guns kind of politically incorrect. What's on TV- golf and mixed martial arts, is safe, and comes with hours of potentially free advertising.

I hope you are right, and the marketers are wrong in the assessment of our society. I think they are wrong, and my proof is all the people I read on this site that seem to love the same kinds of things that I do.

By the way, we don't spend too much time dwelling on Father's Day - my chidren are strong and pretty happy, which is plenty- but I'd really like to have a CZ .22.

The Ted Nugent books "God, Guns and Rock n Roll" and "Ted White and Blue." The first book is more of him promoting his ideas and incorporating them with lots of hunting and outdoors stories. The second one is his views on Cultural affairs such as Government, Global Warming, Obesity and gives you quite a few laughs and some different perspectives.

Wild At Heart, John Eldridge

Hogblog, I think much of Ruark and Capstick is still in print through Safari Press, but I suspect the runs are tiny, the distribution tinier still and the prices are dear so it's probably not something you'll always find down at the Barnes and Noble. My copy of "Horn fo the Hunter" is a Safari Press edition, but I snagged it at library book sale.

Hal and SBW, you'll appreciate this. After leaving the chain bookstore I hit a few used bookshops I used to haunt as a kid.
I picked up a nice 1945 illustrated copy of "Selected Tales of Guy De Maupassant" with the "A Fishing Excursion" story Hal mentioned in an earlier blog as well as a copy of Eric Newby's "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" which SBW heartily recommended.

In addition I picked up (among others) an anthology of hunting stories entitled "Seasons of the Hunter".

Not only did it contain stories from F&S writers like Geoffrey Norman, Anthony Acerrano, Lionel Atwill, Thomas McIntyre, Gene Hill and others, the forward was written by Vance Bourjaily.

Cool stuff. Can't wait to read it.

So I guess the moral of the story is, if you can't find your manhood in the bookstores that feature espresso bars and bongo drum bands, at least you can still find it in the musty aisles of your local second-hand bookshop...

How about a reloading manual or perhaps "Into the Wild"...