And Now We Shall Do Manly Things: Discovering My Manhood Through the Great (and Not-So-Great) American Hunt – One Dad's Witty Memoir of Hunting and Masculinity

by Craig J. Heimbuch

Craig Heimbuch, urban dad, journalist, and editor-in-chief of manofthehouse.com offers readers a humorous exploration of hunting culture in And Now We Shall Do Manly Things . Outdoors enthusiasts, fans of A.J. Jacobs's The Know-It-All and the Bill Bryson classic, A Walk in the Woods will appreciate Heimbuch's aspirations to better understand the men in his family by immersing himself for one year in the manly art of hunting. A book that explores with great wit and open-hearted appreciation the ideal of traditional masculinity, And Now We Shall Do Manly Things demonstrates that it is possible to be both a hunter and a modern American man.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Nature

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2012

Reviews

[Laura Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through a giveaway on Goodreads and although it took me a little while to get the book read, I am glad I read it.

My motivation for entering the giveaway was the hope of getting some insight into what it means to be a man in American culture. It seemed to be an odd choice to try to win but being ever-curious, I wanted to see what I might learn.

The author speaks of his desire to learn to hunt after realizing that he didn't feel he was the man he could be. His choice of hunting as his "manly" activity was closely tied to his family and his upbringing; hunting was just something the men in his family did. Despite the fact that the author had done very little hunting previously, his decision to begin hunting as an adult was a decision based family, history, biology, curiosity, and the author's sense of wanting to be 'more'. Once he made his decision he went full-force, learning what he could about hunting, hunting gear, various animals to hunt, gun safety, etc. His pragmatic and thorough preparation for his first hunt is to be applauded--many, I believe, would have jumped in without much preparation and would therefore have missed some of the most valuable lessons the author learned.

I enjoyed reading the author's experiences as he prepared for his hunt. He experienced the nuts and bolts of hunting and experienced much more than that along the way. Through his process of becoming a hunter he examined his life and his connections with family, pondering his relationships and discovering what his family means to him. His writing is evocative and honest; he presents himself in a humble and humorous light at times and at other times he allows himself to be seen as a person with doubts and insecurities. Although the book is about doing "manly" things, the writing style is most certainly not testosterone-fueled. The author found a way to tell his story that was masculine without bravado; manly without the need for bulging muscles and dominating presence.

All in all, I found this book to be very approachable, easy to read, well-written, insightful, and relaxing. I learned a bit about hunting, a bit about men, and a bit about the author as a person. I hope to read more of his work in the future.

[Michael Whitney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author tries way too hard to be funny. Turns 1 paragraph stories into 2 page side tangents. Found myself jumping ahead of half a page all the time bypass the superfluous anecdotes and analogies. Some really good parts in there but they were completely showered in unnecessary, poorly attempted wit.

[Ron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

And Now We Shall Do Manly Things by Craig J. Heim­buch is a non-fiction book about the author’s adven­tures learn­ing to hunt. The author chron­i­cles his per­sonal jour­ney to while learn­ing about the hunt­ing cul­ture in America.

The book is a hilar­i­ous per­spec­tive on the cul­ture of Amer­i­can hunt­ing which would make Bill Bryson proud. Born to a Mid­west­ern fam­ily Heim­buch sets out to prove him­self and hunt.

Sadly, the author is a part of a gen­er­a­tion I am greatly famil­iar with, a gen­er­a­tion which suf­fered the “fem­i­niza­tion ofAmer­ica”. Where boys could not be boys, and hence did not grow up to be manly men, and men were vil­i­fied for doing, well, manly things. Don’t mis­un­der­stand me, if a boy wants to play with dolls, all the more power – but boys should not be forced to play with dolls or be told that to play sol­diers is “bad”. Those extremes have a nasty ten­dency to back­fire and some­times even cause grave consequences.

The author’s jour­ney begin upon receiv­ing a fam­ily heir­loom from his father – a shot­gun. Being an admirer of out­doorsy types like TV per­son­al­ity Steven Rinella, Heim­buch decides that he needs to go out and “kill some­thing”. Hav­ing some sort of a melt­down, find­ing him­self bur­dened with respon­si­bil­i­ties in a low pay­ing job (he jests that “[j]ournalists are, in fact, the only peo­ple who marry teach­ers for the money”) and mem­o­ries of wimp­ing out on sev­eral occa­sions also helped him to take up his cause.

The author starts out small, hunt­ing grouse, and basi­cally that’s what he’s try­ing to kill. For­get lions and tigers and bears, these lit­tle birds are a chal­lenge even to sea­soned hunters as our hero finds out.

Along the way we join him on a jour­ney to get his gun license, hunt­ing license, meet the peo­ple he bounced his ideas off of and to an NRA gun show (some­thing I always wanted to attend). Mr. Heim­buch looks at the indi­vid­u­als who own guns, the scary ones, the con­spir­acy the­o­rist, those who live on the fringes of soci­ety, but he also looks at the aver­age hunter (who are most of the folks) who hap­pen to enjoy the sport or sim­ply hunt for food.

Some of the writ­ing seemed forced and some of the seg­ments seem to be padded in order to fill out the book (a three page descrip­tion of a meal, for exam­ple). The book some­times feels as if it was intended to be a bunch of arti­cles and then expended to fill out its pages.

How­ever, I found most of the book funny and clever with some inter­est­ing points of view. Heim­buch pokes fun at him­self, the hunt­ing cul­ture and human­ity which makes the book enjoy­able to hunt­ing enthu­si­asts and those who have never ven­tured off the paved path.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Rob Slaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book came to me because my fiancee won it in a GoodReads giveaway. I was stuck one weekend with nothing of my own stack of review titles to read and so I dug my hooks into one of hers. Despite the fact that it was free, I will give my candid opinions below.

In this rather short and readable bit of macerated tree pieces our narrator feels like a wienie and therefore devotes himself for a year to learning to go into the woods and shoot animals. I'm sure that my readers will never doubt for a moment that his efforts are eventually successful and because of this that bit of information cannot begin to be considered a spoiler. Our intrepid adventurer goes to the required classes, obtains a license, buys a firearm and marches manfully into the forest and returns victorious and maybe even a teeny bit more manly.

Looking at this book for some great and deeper meanings, I see a few. Our author, after his vivid self portrayal, really does seem to be quite a spineless schlep. I wouldn't say this has anything to do with his failure to hunt so much as his persistent refusal to stand up for himself or what he believes in. He doesn't exactly do his wife any favors in his depiction of her either. I'm not sure what the larger truth is in any of that but it's worth noting.

If anything is to be drawn from this book at all then it's probably the rather the rather obvious idea that the manly men who go out and hunt, though they be intimidating to the spineless and "feminized" men of the world, are just normal guys out for a good time. The hunters in Heimbuch's book come across as wonderful people that you might just want to hang out with. At least in part this is no doubt due to the fact that most of said hunters are the author's own family, however.

On at least one level this book rather offends me. It seems to say (though the author quickly denies this at the end) that killing animals is somehow equatable to manhood. That in order to be a big man you have to shoot something. That somehow because you take a life you're some step above a jellyfish. I would argue at length about the travesty of this misconception but will merely leave it alone and move on for the moment.

In summary, this book is reasonably entertaining and adequately written but seems centered on a false premise. It is illuminating but at the same time makes me sad that death is viewed by some subset of the male population as a rite of manhood.

[James Sorensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I won this book as part of the Goodreads first-read program.

Mr. Heimbuck's book is a look at how he becomes a man. This memoir presents the author's humorous journey from wimp-hood to manhood as he learns how the join the family tradition: becoming a hunter. And Heimbuck also does a great job shilling for L L Bean.

Mr. Heimbuch comes from a family of hunters, most of whom live in Iowa. After his Father calls him into his parents study, Dad gives him a shotgun. Now, equipped with a gun the author decides to learn what it takes to become a hunter and thus securing his manhood. Heimbuch knows how to shoot, having been raised with a family of gun enthusiasts but has to take a gun safety course, learn about types of game and how to clean them and buy everything else he needs. Then we follow his quest to kill the sacred pheasant.

We also get to view his journey as newly married through his employment history and how he comes to write this book. Heimbuch grows up a passive non-confrontational so his journey into the hunting culture has often humorous results.

I didn't know what to expect from this book, not being a hunter myself, but found the reader does not need to enjoy hunting in order to enjoy this book. If you enjoy a peek into the lives of strangers, this book is a very fun read.

[Chris Mort · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I don't typically read this type of book, but it was very relevant to me. I grew up in Indiana and was surrounded by the hunter type. Most of my direct exposure to hunting/trapping was from my uncle Tony, who taught and exposed me to many other important things. I would never grow to embrace hunting, but I definitely know it has a place in our society/world. But this was more than just a hunting book.

This book really spoke to me regarding getting back to our roots. When I left Indiana and moved to Colorado, I thought I would never miss it. It took several years and having a kid before I really started to appreciate where I came from, the Midwest. (And I really miss a good pork tenderloin sandwich!) These are things that the author hits upon in this book. All the struggles and compromises that a man goes through just to find his identity in a suburban world.

Anyway - good book. If nothing else, read it so you can laugh at yourself a little.

[Terri Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a first reads from the author. As a woman mechanic who grew up with 5 brothers and raised 2 sons, I was a little bit curious to see just where I landed on the "manly" scale.

The book was hysterical. Craig Heimbuch is an excellent writer and has a wonderful sense of humor. I laughed until I cried at his imagined conversation between Ted Turner and Mark Zuckerberg, and having been to an NRA show, found myself nodding at his observations.

I grew up shooting, hunting and fishing. I found myself totally immersed in his hunting trips, rooting him on silently. Him finding a part of himself that he didn't know he had made me smile.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed becoming part of his wonderful family and hunting with him in my imagination. That being said, I'm off to L.L. Bean for some new hunting gear!

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

And Now We Shall Do Manly Things by Craig J. Heimbuch is a funny, quirky, and often extremely touching memoir of one man’s attempt to “discover his manhood through the great (and not-so-great) American hunt.” Heimbuch, as both author and narrator, imbibes his story with hilarious childhood anecdotes and reflections on his youth in the Midwest. He excels at creating character in just a few sentences, and he makes every person—whether it is his dear old dad or the man selling coffee at the gas station—unique and believable. (Full review: http://inthenextroom.blogspot.com/201...)

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The segments of the book about being outdoors, hunting and wandering LLBean were interesting and a quality look at what it's like to try to break into the world of hunting.

Unfortunately, the author kept losing me when he'd start talking about his kids and wife and huge family. I couldn't relate to those sections at all and just kind of slogged through those to get to the good stuff. The gear. The equipment. The nights planning and reading and learning to hunt. Those were the parts that made the book worthwhile for me.

This is the 2nd memoir I've read in as many weeks - I'm ready to return to my more usual fare.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frankly, I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a while. First of all, this book is really funny! My wife says I don't often laugh out loud, but every time I sat down and read this book, it got a few laughs out of me. On top of that, Craig Heimbuch seems to be kind of in the same place in life as me. He did a great job going over what it means to be a husband, father, employee and a man, but keeping it fun. I very much enjoyed the book and have already passed it on to friends. Hopefully this does well and Craig can finally buy himself a house.

[Beth Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the title on the cover of the book (not the one on Goodreads), I thought this book would be about a nerdy/geeky guy who got in touch with his manly side by engaging in activities like football, hunting, fishing, drinking beer, etc. In other words, I thought the list of activities would include more than just hunting. When it gets down to it, this book is about a guy trying to hunt a bird for 300 pages.

The author is a great writer, but my love of hunting just isn't there. For the last half of the book, I thought, "Just kill a bird, and then you'll be a man!"

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The men in Craig Heimbuch's family are hunters--except for Craig, who has shot guns at targets, but never a game animal. At 32, his dad gives him a gun. Married with three children, Craig feels a little trapped by life, the opportunities missed, and how his life defines him. He decides going on a hunt will help redefine himself.
Craig is more a writer than a hunter, making him relatable to someone who doesn't hunt. He shares his triumphs and failures with a wry humor, sharing what he learned about hunting and life.

[Kristin Poley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was entertaining, but also annoying. As a hunter, I know what it takes to go out and get an animal and I think that Heimbuch over analyzed and essentially worked too hard in order to hunt. I just think that 9 months preparation for one hunt is a bit extreme. And it made me really mad that he threw away his first cooked pheasant because he tried to cook something fancy and it didn't work out..what a waste! Also, he is really judgemental.

[Brady Holmer]

Just a fun loving adventure of the authors hunting quest. Picked this one up at a Half Price Books because of the cover alone.
More of a memoir of the authors triumphs and defeats (of which there are many) along his quest to revisit something that many men in his family have done for generations. Hunt.
This book has inspired me to, soon enough, go on my own hunting "journey" of a sort.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read & so proud to say I know the author. Very well done, Craig! You demonstrated such wit and willingness to share stories of family & learning to hunt.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, witty, and a bittersweet adventure. One mans quest of stepping outside his comfort zone and daily routine to validate his manly manhood.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm pretty good at keeping interest in slower stories, but almost nothing happens in this book.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely funny made me laugh out loud multiple times. He can be a little dry at points and come off a little snobby, But overall a good read.

[Will Maier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was published by a really good author and was a very good book also

[Vincent Andersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enh.....readable, some amusing bits, but a bit redundant and nothing really happens.