Understanding Men’s Passages is the most intimate and candid account of what men’s lives are really like today, revealing their doubts, their passions, their hunger for renewal. Given their increasingly unpredictable and elongated lives, men need to reinvent themselves and expand the ways they demonstrate their manliness.

Hundreds of men have told their stories in their own words to Gail Sheehy, author best-selling New Passages and The Silent Passage. Sheehy makes the case that it is men in middle life who have the best chance to become masters of their fates. Featured are condifences from both celebrities and everyday heroes, creating a mirror in which every man can locate his possibilities for growth and change. These bold, feisty, imaginative men recount how they have discovered what is missing and forged new directions to invigorate the second half of their lives. They share a fantastic secret: "Hey, I’m not as old as I used to be!"

Understanding Men’s Passages is a concise guide for men (and the women in their lives) as they confront the major issues of each passage:

How do you make change work for you?

Where can you find new passion and purpose?

How can you be the father you wish your father was?

What can you do to exercise influence as you grow older?

How can you deal successfully with ‘man menopause"?

What strategies can defeat depression?

How can you survive a job change or downsizing?

What keeps a man young?

When men and women face the same passage with different needs and directions, how does marriage survive?

The stories of men who are redirecting their lives offer concrete information as well as inspiration. Gail Sheehy’s Understanding Men’s Passages will be a man’s secret friend – a short, witty, knowing guide to self-renewal. And every woman will find it a must-read.