MAN UP by Jack Urwin published tomorrow by Icon Books

Out tomorrow from Icon Books with a beautiful new cover is Jack Urwin’s MAN UP – a funny and accessible examination of masculinity and its current issues, related in Jack’s highly informed and friendly style.

The book was inspired by a combination of the death of Urwin’s father when Jack was nine, as well as Jack’s experiences of depression. MAN UP comes after a viral article Urwin wrote for VICE in 2014 - A Stiff Upper Lip is Killing British Men, and covers a range of topics in which masculinity plays a defining role, including lad culture, sexuality, conscription during WW1 and WW2, and mass shootings.

With male suicide currently the primary cause of death for men between 18 and 49 in the UK, MAN UP keeps its sights firmly on mental health throughout, and reveals the damage that the typical idea of masculinity can inflict upon it. Urwin’s deconstruction of masculinity and arguments for less rigid ideas of gender take us back to those who went to war in the first half of the 20th Century, and subsequently lost the ability to vocalise what they had seen – conscription examined by Urwin as a kind of compulsory “state-sanctioned requirement for masculinity”. It also takes in the recent decline of the working class, and the current mental health epidemic afflicting men.

Jack Urwin was born in Loughborough in 1992 and moved to London at 18 to study journalism, a degree which would do its best to turn him off becoming a journalist. He spent several years working as a music publicist on campaigns for a variety of major and independent labels, leading to Enrique Iglesias labelling him — quite unfairly, he feels — a ‘drill sergeant'.

Jack contributes to a number of music publications, humour sites and magazines including McSweeney's and VICE. His work has covered a range of issues such as politics, mental health and gender and has drawn praise from the likes of Irvine Welsh.

 Follow Jack on Twitter.

Praise for Jack Urwin

 ‘With depression and suicide among young men on the rise Jack Urwin explores the roots of stiff-upper-lip “toxic masculinity” and makes a powerful argument for greater emotional honesty.’ – Daily Express

 ‘Jack Urwin’s new book – Man Up: Surviving Modern Masculinity – tackles these issues in a funny and approachable way despite the seriousness of the subject matter.’ – Nick Harris-Fry, Coach Magazine

 ‘This is the brilliant, personal, not-actually sexist writing by millennials about masculinity and politics that the world has been waiting for.’ – Laurie Penny

 ‘Jack Urwin writes like he speaks: accessible, funny, and interesting. His article got people talking and now, almost two years on, he is right in thinking that the time for a big discussion about masculinity has arrived.’ – The Telegraph

 ‘What it means to be a man is a fiercely debated question, and one that comes with millennia of baggage about the ‘ideals’ of masculinity. Vice journalist Jack Urwin fearlessly explores this issue, probing into why aggression and repression are still considered the norm when characterising men. This is an essential read at a time when gender divides are still part of the everyday landscape.’ –Topman

Jack Urwin’s MAN UP published today by Icon Books

Out from Icon Books today is Jack Urwin’s smart, funny and friendly book on masculinity, MAN UP. You can read an extract from the book about the events which prompted Jack to write about masculinity in The Telegraph.

Urwin’s article in VICE in 2014 – A Stiff Upper Lip is Killing British Men – went viral on publication and was praised by Irvine Welsh as ‘fabulous’, and by feminist journalist and author Laurie Penny as 'the brilliant, personal, not-actually-sexist writing by millennials about masculinity and politics that the world has been waiting for'.

MAN UP explores why masculinity – for all of its positive achievements – is currently in crisis, and what it means to be a man now. There’s no doubt about that crisis, either: suicide is currently the main cause of death among men between the ages of 18-49 in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Inspired in part by his own father’s premature death when Jack was nine, and his subsequent struggles with depression in his teens and early twenties - to which his inability to communicate emotionally was a major contributing factor - MAN UP expands on Urwin’s personal experiences, and delves further into the historical causes of toxic male behaviour in both biological and sociological contexts.

In the book, Jack traces crises of masculinity from our grandfathers’ inability to verbalise the horrors of war and the decline of the working class in the latter part of the 20th century, to the mob mentality displayed on the football terraces, and the disturbing rise of mental health problems among men today. He also looks at the wider impact wrought by reinforcement of such rigid definitions of masculinity, harming not only heterosexual men but also the women and LGBT people around them. 

MAN UP is the start of an essential conversation for men, exploring why we have perpetuated various myths of masculinity – and how we can challenge it, and change it.

The book will launch tomorrow in an event at Waterstone’s Piccadilly. Jack will be at Cheltenham Science Festival on the 8th and 9th June discussing The Myth of Masculinity and Bringing Up Boys. Jack was interviewed in the Evening Standard about What It Means to be a Man in 2016, and also wrote five tips for men for AskMen. He was featured discussing masculinity on BBC Woman’s Hour and his book has already featured in several pieces in The Telegraph.

Jack Urwin was born in Loughborough in 1992 and moved to London at 18 to study journalism, a degree which would do its best to turn him off becoming a journalist. He spent several years working as a music publicist on campaigns for a variety of major and independent labels, leading to Enrique Iglesias labelling him — quite unfairly, he feels — a ‘drill sergeant'. 

Jack contributes to a number of music publications, humour sites and magazines including McSweeney's and VICE. His work has covered a range of issues such as politics, mental health and gender and has drawn praise from the likes of Irvine Welsh. He's spoken at UCL and been interviewed on US radio by Judith Regan, although unlike OJ Simpson didn't confess to any murders in the process.

Follow Jack on Twitter.

ICON BOOKS ACQUIRE GROUND-BREAKING NEW BOOK ON MASCULINITY FROM JACK URWIN

Tom Webber, commissioning editor at Icon Books, has bought UK & Commonwealth rights from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann to MAN UP: Surviving Modern Masculinity by Jack Urwin. Audible have bought unabridged audio rights, from Juliet Pickering, to publish simultaneously in June 2016.

Urwin’s article in Vice last year – A Stiff Upper Lip is Killing British Men – went viral on publication and was praised by Irvine Welsh as ‘fabulous’, and by feminist journalist and author Laurie Penny as 'the brilliant, personal, not-actually-sexist writing by millennials about masculinity and politics that the world has been waiting for'.

MAN UP explores why masculinity – for all of its positive achievements – is currently in crisis, and what it means to be a man now. There’s no doubt about that crisis, either: suicide is currently the main cause of death among men between the ages of 18-49 in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.

As commentators like Matt Haig have repeatedly said, men are now facing up to the challenges that their gender presents, and as more books are published about women, by women, men are struggling to be part of a similar conversation about the future of their gender.

Inspired in part by his own father’s premature death when Jack was nine, and his subsequent struggles with depression in his teens and early twenties - to which his inability to communicate emotionally was a major contributing factor - MAN UP expands on Urwin’s personal experiences, and delves further into the historical causes of toxic male behaviour in both biological and sociological contexts.

In the book, Jack traces crises of masculinity from our grandfathers’ inability to verbalise the horrors of war and the decline of the working class in the latter part of the 20th century, to the mob mentality displayed on the football terraces, and the disturbing rise of mental health problems among men today. He also looks at the wider impact wrought by reinforcement of such rigid definitions of masculinity, harming not only heterosexual men but also the women and LGBT people around them. 

Smart, funny and friendly, MAN UP is the start of an essential conversation for men, exploring why we have perpetuated various myths of masculinity – and how we can challenge it, and change it.

‘This won’t be the only voice discussing men and masculinity in 2016 - there seem to be few more contemporary topics - but Jack’s is definitely unique’’ Webber says. ‘His writing is extremely resonant and clear, and as well as coming from his own traumatic experiences as a child and teenager, it shows a wisdom that belies his age. We think he’s going to be a star and that this book will only be the beginning of his rise to fame’

Jack Urwin says ‘This is a book from the heart and I’m really looking forward to adding what I can to the debate about masculinity. Icon have a great reputation for books about big ideas, and having already seen how receptive Tom and his colleagues are, I’m more than confident they’ll be the perfect publisher.’