She found them, and the examples she puts forth for us range in age from about thirteen to ninety-one years of age. Though the dustcover touts the men as "ordinary," we soon discover from reading their stories that there is something quite unique about each one. Some are models of what our fathers and grandfathers called "genuine." But others aren't. They've been kicked by the world, pushed aside, left to raise their children alone, recovering, but none have been defeated, none have found excuses for lacking responsibility. In fact, each one steps up to the plate, not as our heroes of mid-century baseball might have, but each one steps forward to claim his responsibility without question.

There is a new definition for what a man ought to be in this postmodern kind of culture and, as Nancy Bruno shares with us, it has to do with defining success in other than material ways, in grabbing hold of responsibility with a passion, in finding no excuse for failure. It has something to do with character.

This is still a coffee table book, and it will sit on my coffee table... but only until the right seventeen year old boy comes along who needs to find the example by which to pattern his life.