Book Review: Grasmuck, S., & Goldwater, J. (2005). Protecting Home: Class, Race and Masculinity in Boys' Baseball. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press

Abstract

This makes the final conclusions too encompassing. In addition, the criteria for presenting particular quotes are not always clear. How representative are these quotes? How many interviewees expressed similar views? Were there any counterexamples? The answers to these questions are often not explicit enough.Despite these drawbacks, The Men We Loved is an enticing composition. The book is well written, concise, and aptly organized, presenting a clear and consistent logic and line of thought. It touches the reader by deconstructing the seemingly trivial issue of male friendships and permeating the deep meanings of this daily practice. Kaplan offers an original way to look at these relationships, bypassing, at least for the most part, traditional psychological individualistic analyses of friendships. He manages to introduce a well thought and coherent sociological account, and even when the arguments are not entirely convincing, they are still challenging and mind opening. Finally, while the book is deeply grounded in Israeli culture, language, and practices, it carries a universal dimension. It manages to touch praxes and meanings which readers from different and diverse cultures may find relevant and revealing.