Man Down

Will Parks needs to man up. A man stands. A man fights. A man bleeds. These are the first lessons you learn in a town where girls are objects, words are weak and fists do the talking. Will's more at home in the classroom than the gym, and the most important woman in his life is his gran. So how can a boy who's always backed away from a fight become the hero who saves the day? Because a disaster is coming. One that Will can prevent. But only if he learns the most important lesson of all: sometimes to step up, you have to man down. A searingly powerful exploration of toxic masculinity, perfect for fans of Juno Dawson or They Both Die at the End. 'Stylish, thought-provoking thriller territory . . . Highly recommended' - The Irish Times 'Staggeringly good . . . had me hanging on every word' Louisa Reid, author of Wrecked and Lies Like Love 'Good books make you feel something. Great books change the way you feel about everything. Man Down is a great book. No one is writing about young men's lives with as much warmth, empathy and humour as James is right now.' Samuel Pollen, author of The Year I Didn't Eat 'Utterly compelling, completely original and will undoubtedly be one of the standout books of 2022. An absolute must read' - Adam Simcox, author of The Dying Squad 'An excellent look at what it means to "be a man" amid a culture of peer pressure and toxic masculinity while navigating desire and friendship. Loved it.' - Anna Stephens, author of Godblind 'Emotionally complex, dark and clever - a very unexpected, thoughtful and original book. I can honestly think of no other YA quite like it.' - Gina Blaxill, author of Saving Silence

'The most honest, most revealing - and funniest - exploration of male mental health I have ever read' Adam Kay 'Matt Rudd may have written the most important book in a generation' Idle Society On the surface, men today don't have much to complain about. At work, they still get paid more than women for doing the same jobs. At home, they still shirk most of the unpaid labour. Putting the bins out does not count. Beneath the surface, it's a different story. An alarming number of men end up anxious, exhausted, depressed - and very reluctant to admit they are. Even if they do everything that's expected of them in work, life and fatherhood, genuine happiness is still elusive. By midlife, their levels of stress are higher and their levels of wellbeing are lower - and work-life balance turns out to be just a cruel illusion. The evidence is clear and ironic: the system set up by men for men doesn't work for men either. It is making none of us happy. In Man Down, Matt Rudd takes the long view on this perplexing paradox. Drawing on stories from his own life, and the varied lives of the other men he has interviewed, he goes back to the beginning to consider what makes the modern man - how the seeds of midlife misery are sown in the school playground and cultivated through adolescence and into adulthood. By turns compassionate and provocative, Man Down asks the important question: is midlife unhappiness inevitable? Spoiler alert: it isn't.

A first responder’s harrowing account of 9/11—the inspirational true story of an American hero who gave nearly everything for others during one of New York City’s darkest hours. On September 11, 2001, FDNY Battalion Chief Richard “Pitch” Picciotto answered the call heard around the world. In minutes, he was at Ground Zero of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center began to burn—and then to buckle. A veteran of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Picciotto was eerily familiar with the inside of the North Tower. And it was there that he concentrated his rescue efforts. It was in its smoky stairwells where he heard and felt the South Tower collapse. He made the call for firemen and rescue workers to evacuate, while he stayed behind with a skeleton team of men to help evacuate a group of disabled and infirm civilians. And it was in the rubble of the North Tower where Picciotto found himself buried—for more than four hours after the building’s collapse.

This time the chips are truly down for Hollywood Jake Donovan. A government scientist, Dr. William Rush, has been found dead in a North Carolina state park; he'd been doing sensitive research -- possibly a weapons project -- and he'd been brutally murdered. His colleague, Janice Callahan, is also missing...A crime of passion? Or a threat to national security? Jake Donovan -- down on his luck after being mysteriously yanked from the investigation of an assassination attempt on the First Lady -- and his Broken Wings team are assigned to the case by their wealthy benefactor Mrs. De Vries, who also happens to be Janice Callahan's aunt. But it's not going to be easy for Jake. As he digs deeper into the mystery he is shot at, his car is blown up, and his fingerprints keep turning up where they shouldn't. His personal life is no picnic either: His Broken Wings colleague and girlfriend Katie leaves him for her ex-husband; his former wife has had it with the danger his work brings to her and their two children; and he is plagued by nightmares of the Black Diamond kidnapper, the one criminal whom he has never been able to catch. But the worst blow comes when Donovan's adored son, Eric, is abducted right out of his own bed. Hollywood Jake Donovan finally knows what it's like to be a victim. In their efforts to save the country, as well as the offspring of one of their own, the Broken Wings team races across America on the trail of a complicated conspiracy. Can they get to the center of the web in time? Once again, John Douglas has delivered a mesmerizing and edge-of-the-seat ride into the world of criminal profiling.

How often do you put on a 'coping' front, when in reality you're troubled with insecurities and anxieties? Do you find it difficult to open up about how you're feeling? You might be surprised to learn that you are not alone, and that many men find it challenging to talk about their worries. From tips on how to reach out, to advice on navigating mental health issues, this volume is full of guidance on how to look out for your well-being. Topics covered include: Anxiety and depression Stress Suicidal thoughts Dealing with traditional gender expectations Self-care and mindfulness methods How to open up and communicate Where to seek help With personal experiences and insights, this book will improve your awareness of mental health, offer tools and techniques to enable you to manage it better, and help you to live a happier, healthier life.

The Ridgemonts are wealthy and influential New Mexico Territory landowners. Their status purportedly is purchased by seemingly inexhaustible capital provided by their reputed Deadmen Hills' gold mine. It[[s only human nature that others want to share in their bounty. That these others have to die has less to do with keeping the "mine" location a secret than with concealing other mysteries bequeathed by the long-lived and elusive native-American shaman Calenza. Secrets even the Ridgemonts can likely never fully comprehend. #1 in A New World Shaman series

To twelve-year-old Jacob Hunter, moving with his family to a small town in south Mississippi - a place he'd never even heard of - means little more than having to get used to a new house, a new school, and trying to find new friends. In less than a week, his world will be changed in ways he could never have imagined. A terrifying chain of events, set in motion by a simple prank, will serve to forge an unlikely bond between Jacob and Jim Hanes - a lonely, bitter old drunk. And, as recurring nightmares and haunting visions begin to blur reality, he will come to discover the true power of friendship, redemption, and the hope of a child sustained by the power of faith. But will it be enough when he finds himself pitted against a dark evil that has long slept, deep within the blackest corners of the soul of The Old Man Down The Road? www.oldmanbook.com

A New York Times Notable Book: The award-winning debut novel of race and family that “casts a new light on urban life in Brooklyn” (Time Out New York). “Like the characters of Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry . . . [our] unnamed narrator is a black man concerned with identity in a decidedly white America”. He’s a father of three in a biracial marriage trying to claim a piece of the American Dream (TheWashington Post). On the eve of his thirty-fifth birthday, he finds himself broke, estranged from his wife and kids, and living in a friend’s spare bedroom in Brooklyn. He has four days to come up with the money to keep his family afloat, and four days to make sense of his past and his future in a country where he feels preprogrammed to fail. But he has a powerful urge to escape that sentence. “Man Gone Down charts a four-day, Homeric trek through what makes America and New York a social and racial nightmare as well as a dream that incredibly can still come true.” —Robert Sullivan, New York Times–bestselling author of Rats “Powerful and moving . . . recount[ing] the events of four desperate days in New York, [Man Gone Down] extends far beyond these boundaries of time and space.” —The New York Times Book Review “[A] jazzy, sinewy debut . . . Thomas’s urgent, quicksilver prose makes even the darkest moments of this novel shine.” —O, The Oprah Magazine