Authoritative history on the early twentieth-century formation of the idealized “race man” -- the upstanding and uplift-minded ethos of male leadership -- in black communities. Excellent for historical background on modern, “dominant” forms of black masculinity.

Theoretical inquiry into the major problems of “race man” discourse, with special emphasis on racialized responses to the white gaze. Essays on subjects ranging from black freemasonry and Booker T. to Fanon and the Million Man March.

Probably the most important book in black masculinity studies, a survey of the politics and stakes of black male cultural representation from Reconstruction through the New Negro Renaissance. Features feminist and queer approaches to masculinity, and covers topics ranging from patronage and professionalism to homoerotic bonding and queer subcultures.

Major work on contemporary, post-1960 black masculinities. Excellent resource on black male representation from the AIDS crisis in the 1980s through the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995.

Essays on black masculinity in popular culture, with special emphasis on hip hop and black men on the “down low.” Recasting the idea of the “race man” to meet feminist- and queer-allied agendas for the contemporary black community.

The chapter on Reid-Pharr’s relationships with lower-class white men is a provocative analysis of how shame and power intrude on any consideration of interracial intimacy.

Theoretical inquiry into comparative raced masculinities. Features important analyses of castration anxiety in Black Power discourse and the liberal racist logic of U.S. “buddy films.”