March is National Reading Month. Inspired by the March 2 birthday of Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, the event is aimed at children, families, and communities, with a heavy emphasis on the younger crowd. Given the decline in reading and the increasing failure by many public schools to teach grade-level literacy, this emphasis should be applauded.

But other groups, particularly young men, also have need of books and reading, a recent article by Greg Richter explains. He notes that Gen Z males are steering away from literary fiction, “a primary medium that allowed readers [to] develop empathy and encounter models of duty, sacrifice, and moral complexity.”

One reason that fewer men are reading contemporary fiction these days is because the bulk of those novels are written by female authors whose stories all too often appeal only to women. If the New Books Shelves at my library are any indication, then most fiction these days fits the genre of fantasy, romance, and suspense, categories light on realistic portrayals of moral complexity and models of duty and sacrifice.

Such fictions for men do exist, of course, especially if we travel back into the past, as the following three titles show.

Long ago, a priest told me that he often recommended Mark Helprin’s “A Soldier of the Great War” to young men who came to him for counsel. Given that tip, I reread Helprin’s novel and have since recommended it to my sons, their friends, and some of my students. On several occasions, I’ve given the book itself with my recommendation.

On a prolonged walk, the protagonist and hero of “Soldier,” World War I veteran and professor of aesthetics Alessandro Giuliani, shares his life’s story with a young mechanic, Nicolo. Love, death, war, marriage, work, God: all are topics addressed along the way. Helprin’s lyrical writing may not appeal to all, but for me and a few of the young men who followed my recommendation, this novel was life changing.

Anton Myrer’s “Once an Eagle” brings us another hero, Sam Damon, who spends his life in the U.S. Army from just before World War I up until Vietnam. Since its publication, this book has become a staple on reading lists in the different branches of our military, in large part because of Myrer’s gripping descriptions of combat, his timeless examples of good and bad leaders, and the thought-provoking moral dilemmas faced by Damon.

Damon’s saga calls to mind that old maxim from Marcus Aurelius: “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”

Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove” novel of an 1870s cattle drive from Texas to Montana is much more than your typical Western. It features two ex-Texas Rangers, longtime friends Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae. As they travel north facing adversity ranging from the weather to Indian attacks to mending broken relationships, the men come to represent two sides of the male nature. Call is stoic, hardworking, and practical, while McCrae has a way with the ladies, is much more easygoing, and spends a good deal of time cracking jokes about Call’s stiff-upper lip approach to life.

Yet both men also share some character qualities: a sense of justice, an appreciation for courage, a high regard for truth and honor. Self-respect is important to them as well. In one saloon scene, in which McRae busts the nose of a surly bartender, he reminds all present that he and Call helped settle this territory.

All three of these books make for hefty reading but are well worth the time put into them.

Some readers will likely have their own top three or four novels that present men in a positive light and allow visitors to take inspiration and guidance from their pages. I encourage you to share these titles with the young men in your own lives.

“We read to know we are not alone” runs the line written by William Nicholson for the actor playing C.S. Lewis in “Shadowlands.” Find some fiction you love and admire, young men, and you’ll have more than a book. You’ll have a friend for life.

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This article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

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