Restless Men: Masculinity and Robinson Crusoe, 1788-1840 [Hardcover]

Robinson Crusoe's call to adventure and do-it-yourself settlement resonated with British explorers. In tracing the links in a discursive chain through which a particular male subjectivity was forged, Karen Downing reveals how such men took their tensions with them to Australia, so that the colonies never were a solution to restless men's anxieties.Introduction: Restless men 1. Confined by the Gout  Perceptions of Men's Physical Health 2. The Ecstasies and Transports of the Soul  Emotional Journeys of Self-discovery 3. My Head Filled Early With Rambling Thoughts  Raising Boys and Making Men 4. Satisfied with Nothing but Going to Sea  Seafaring Lives and Island Hopes 5. To Think That This Was All My Own  Land, Independence and Emigration 6. The Middle Station of Life  the Anxieties of Social Mobility 7. A Surprising Change of Circumstances  Men's Ambivalent Relationship with Authority 8. The Centre of All My Enterprises  the Paradox of Families Conclusion: 'Robinson Crusoe untravelled&'

Downing's text is very neatly situated in the historiography of masculinity ... [it] has made a valuable and engaging contribution to the literature on masculinities. Her scholarship is exceptional and her book deserves to be read by all who are interested in this field. - Australian Historical Studies

Karen Downing is a Visitor in the School of History at The Australian National University, Australia. She has a PhD from the Australian National University where she has taught gender and historiography and theory courses. Currently she is the assistant editor of History Australia.