I'm finishing this book on manliness while drinking a rosé in a bath full of bubbles. Brett McKay, with his assumptions that if you are a man with a child, you must also have a wife, send to come from a kinder, gentler branch of conservatism that feels like a childhood friend.

This book reminds me of the Dangerous Book for Boys -- lots of things every boy should know, like tying a tie, old-timey courtship etiquette, and proper handkerchief use.

This conception of a gentleman is schooled in the "a gentleman closes the drapes so mother's furniture doesn't fade" tradition, which I don't dislike, but which is at odds with the initial John Wayne quote "You've Got to Be a Man Before You Can Be a Gentleman."