Amateur A True Story About What Makes a Man

<p><b>Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction</b><br><br>In this groundbreaking new book, Thomas Page McBee, a trans man, trains to fight in a charity match at Madison Square Garden while struggling to untangle the vexed relationship between masculinity and violence.<br><br>Through his experience of boxing - learning to get hit, and to hit back; wrestling with the camaraderie of the gym; confronting the betrayals and strength of his own body - McBee examines the weight of male violence, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and the limitations of conventional masculinity. A wide-ranging exploration of gender in our society, <i>Amateur</i> is ultimately a story of hope, as McBee traces a way forward: a new masculinity, inside the ring and out of it.<br><br>A graceful and uncompromising exploration of living, fighting and healing, in <i>Amateur</i> we gain insight into the stereotypes and shifting realities of masculinity today through the eyes of a new man.</p>