About a month ago, a man named Jack Kammer contacted me through this website. Turns out that Rick Belden had told him about Masculinity Movies and since Rick figured we’d have a thing or two to talk about, he put us in touch. Jack and I exchanged some words which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was delighted by his subsequent eagerness to send me his book for free (this is one of the perks of running a website like this – people send me free stuff).
Heroes of the Blue Sky Rebellion by Jack Kammer (click to buy)
His book is based on the premise that boys today are in serious trouble and that they are off to a bad start in life due to inhospitable socio-cultural conditions. Since very few mature men are stepping forward to deal with the situation, Jack suggests that the boys need to start their own rebellion. Heroes of the Blue Sky Rebellion is a guidebook for those boys.
I must admit to having been somewhat leery of this concept, for it reminds me of what Robert Moore refers to as pseudo-initiation. The idea behind this concept is that boys can not initiate their peers into manhood. Such a boy merely ends up as an adolescent, a pseudo-initiated male with more aggression and less self-love than we would expect from a mature man. Robert Moore suggests that for a boy to become a man, he needs the presence of a true elder. I communicated with Jack about this and he relayed his experience from doing men’s work for some 30 years from which I understood that the men of society simply aren’t showing up to rectify the situation. So this was his answer.
Having read through it, I realize that the book will actually help. Jack keeps reminding the reader, hopefully a passionate boy, that he is one of the good guys and that his task is to take the situation into his own hands by finding allies, be they peers, girls or older men, to foster a positive change. He gives the reader a field manual on how to defend himself from all the small-minded, ill-willed nonsense that many boys who stand up for their own rights are faced with. There is an army of people prepared to shame, ridicule and vilify these young individuals were they to go public with these controversial ideas. Jack has some answers for these boys.
All in all, Jack’s work is well researched (with 150 of footnotes) and presents a picture that is hard to argue with. Reading the book, I was reminded of the work of my friend Pelle Billing. It describes a tragic situation, one that I hope will soon change through the work of passionate men across the globe. Are you prepared to be one of those men?
Jack told me that the book has sadly not reached its audience. Here’s to hoping that this review will help rectify that situation somewhat.