HISTORY

Gentlemen of the Woods: Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack

by Willa Hammitt Brown
Univ. of Minnesota. Feb. 2025. 368p. ISBN 9781517912451. $29.95. HIST
COPY ISBN
The lumberjack, an idealized symbol of masculinity and a simpler way of life, looms large in American mythology. In her debut book, historian Brown challenges the truth behind the myth and how the myth came to exist and endure in the U.S. She argues that lumberjacks, as society understands them from legends such as Paul Bunyan, hardly resemble the true history of lumber industry workers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By examining lumberjacks as agents of the destructive capitalism that deforested the Northwoods of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, she identifies the social and economic forces that shaped the lives of lumberjacks, contextualizing them within the white middle-class and Indigenous communities they interacted with.
VERDICT Written in clear prose with well-founded arguments, this book, heavily illustrated with archival photographs and drawings, makes an excellent addition to history collections. For general audiences interested in Americana.
Reviewed by Lydia Fletcher , Jan 01, 2025
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