Write like a Man

Ronnie A. Grinberg is associate professor of history and a core faculty member of the Schusterman Center for Judaic and Israel Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

"Grinberg dives into a mountain of material, both voluminous primary sources, diaries and letters, as well as contemporaneous commentary and uses a new lens to make a well-known story come alive with new insights."---Michael Kimmel, European Journal of Jewish Studies --- "Eminently readable . . . deeply relevant, chronicling a compelling blend of literature, politics, and interpersonal rivalries. . . . [Write Like a Man is] a compelling chronicle of the place where artistic and political history come together. It’s an evocative summoning of a particular place and time, but it’s also not hard to draw connections between that period and today. Like the best works of history, it both enlivens the past and puts the present in a new light."---Tobias Carroll, Vol. 1 Brooklyn --- "Ronnie A. Grinberg’s analysis. . .makes for fascinating reading, along with a good dose of nostalgia."---Jeremy Dauber, Times Literary Supplement --- "Well-researched and convincing. . . . Grinberg cogently implies that the New York Intellectuals unified around a Jewish masculine form that provided its Jewish male members with a psychologically positive alternative to mainstream American masculine norms that classified them as inferior and their fathers’ masculine norms that the members viewed as rendering their adherents impotent."---Philip Hollander, Reading Religion --- "Fascinating. . . . a valuable, well-researched and highly readable account of an important chapter of American intellectual life."---H.N. Hirsch, Compulsive Reader --- "Write Like a Man is among the most enjoyable and impressively researched books on its subject, brimming with colorful anecdotes and unexpected insights on every page. Grinberg has both redefined and reignited interest in the New York Intellectuals."---David Klion, Jewish Currents --- "Remarkable. . . . Utterly compelling . . . Grinberg makes a convincing case for how these sons of immigrants melded their parents’ educational aspirations with the Talmudic traditions and radical politics that permeated the Jewish world of the early to mid 20th century."---Yael Friedman, Forward --- "Grinberg insightfully recounts the story of New York's Jewish intellectuals through the prism of gender. . . . An extremely well-written, informative, and thoughtful first book that explores the New York Jewish intellectuals through a new lens."---J. D. Sarna, Choice --- "A complex but still-relevant phenomenon . . . that is both thought provoking and friendly to the non-academic reader."---Janice Weizman, New York Journal of Books --- "Write like a Man is not only accessible but engagingly written, carefully researched, and persuasively argued. Grinberg’s thesis that masculinity was central to the identity of the New York intellectuals is so well presented and so cogent that it is impossible to imagine future scholars overlooking the importance of their gender ideology."---Hannah Joyner, Open Letters Monthly --- "Incisive." --- "Masterful."---Claire Potter, Why Now? podcast --- "Erudite. . . . Write Like a Man can be read as a case study for how gen­der inter­acts with intel­lec­tu­al projects."---Brian Hillman, Jewish Book Council --- "A persuasive explanation for the demise of the New York intellectuals. . . . A fascinating history."---Michael Kimmage, New Republic --- "A sophisticated exploration. . . . The portraits are perceptive and the cultural and historical background highlights how New York’s mid-century intellectual scene negotiated new understandings of and relationships to gender. It’s an enlightening look at an influential literary coterie." --- "Grinberg’s insightful survey persuasively shows that some of the country’s most brilliant midcentury writers cultivated manliness to counter what they saw as their fathers’ meek marginality and thereby forged new ways of being American and of being Jewish."---Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal --- "There have been many other notable and worthy books about the influential New York Jewish intellectuals. . . . But none have been as attentive as Grinberg to how their experiences as Jews shaped their understandings of masculinity, or of how that understanding was central to the form and substance of their work. . . . Measured and nuanced. . . . It is a breath of fresh literary air to read a book that takes historically significant intellectuals seriously not only as writers and thinkers, but also as people trying to figure out who they were."---Emily Tamkin, Washington Post --- "Grinberg’s book is filled with such lively anecdotes, attentive to both the energy and absurdity generated by a coterie of brilliant eggheads who identified as fearless brawlers."---Jennifer Szalai, New York Times --- "Winner of the NYC Big Book Award, Religion Nonfiction Category" --- "Honorable Mention for the Saul Viener Book Prize, American Jewish Historical Society" --- "Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Women’s Studies, Jewish Book Council" --- "Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies, Jewish Book Council" --- "Longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Awards, Criticism Category"