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The Art of Manliness

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The Best and Worst Magazines for MenJanuary 7

One of the reasons I started the Art of Manliness website was because of the dearth of quality men’s magazines out there. None of them really took the idea of manliness and what it meant to be a man seriously, and they were filled with the same, tired articles on how to bed the ladies and attain six pack abs.

My hope is that AoM has filled a niche in talking about aspects of manliness and a man’s life that don’t get covered elsewhere. But of course, practically speaking, there’s still a need for magazines. Magazines help pass the time at the airport and provide a little extra relaxation when you’re sitting upon the porcelain throne. And it’s definitely nice to get something fun in the mailbox every month. Therefore, AoM set out to discover which men’s magazines were the best. We read through 2 months of issues from a variety of men’s publications. (Note: while magazines like Popular Mechanics, Sports Illustrated, and Field and Stream have a predominantly male readership, we concentrated on magazines that were designed and targeted as general men’s interest publications).

We spent many hours reading and note taking so that you don’t have to. We examined who the magazines seemed to be mar

Bartitsu: The Martial Art of GentlemenJanuary 5

Image from The Journal of Manly Arts

Before Randy Couture and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, there was Edward William Barton-Wright and bartitsu. Bartitsu was probably the first instance of what we know today as mixed martial arts. Mr. Barton combined elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane fighting, and french kick boxing in order to create a self defense system that could be used by discerning gentlemen on the mean streets of Edwardian London. It grew to such popularity that even Sherlock Holmes was practicing bartitsu in his mysterious adventures.

While bartitsu died in the early 20th Century, E.W. Barton left a legacy in the field of martial arts. What follows is a brief history of bartitsu as well as a guide to get you started on learning the martial art of gentlemen.

The History of Bartitsu

When unarmed, William Barton-Wright would use his mustache as a weapon.

Bartitsu was created by William Barton-Wright, an English railroad engineer. Barton’s work as an engineer took him to Japan for three years where he was introduced to jujitsu. He studied the art at the school of Jigoro Kano. Barton must have been excited about what he learned. When he returned to England, he quit his career in engineering and opened up a martial arts school where he taught jujitsu.

In 1899, Barton wrote an article in the London based publication, Pearson’s Magazine, entitled “A New Art of Self Defense.” In it he set out his system of self defense that he called “bartitsu,” an obvious melding of his name and jujitsu. While bartitsu was based mainly on jujitsu, Barton explained in his article that the system included boxing, kickboxing, and stick fighting.

Barton opened a school called the Bartitsu Club. He brought in some of the best martial arts teachers from around the world to teach at his new school. Among these were Japanese instructors K. Tani, S. Yamamoto, and Yukio Tani as well as Pierre Vigny and Armand Cherpillod. One journalist described the Bartitsu Club as “… a huge subterranean hall, all glittering, white-tiled walls, and electric light, with ‘champions’ prowling around it like tigers.”

The popularity of bartitsu in England was widespread. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle even had Sherlock Holmes practicing “baritsu” (a misspelling of bartitsu) in The Adventure of the Empty House. Because Conan Doyle misspelled bartitsu, scholars of Sherlock Holmes were confused for years by the reference. (Note: Robert Downey, Jr. will be showing off his bartitsu chops in an upcoming Sherlock Holmes film. )

Bartitsu declined in popularity as rapidly as it had ascended. By 1903, the Bartitsu Club closed and most of its instructors established their own self defense schools in London. Barton continued to develop and teach bartitsu until the 1920s. Because of the lack of interest in his martial art, Barton spent the rest of his career as a physical therapist. He died in 1951 at the age of 90.

A Mini Documentary on Bartitsu

Bartitsu in Action

Manvotional: True and False ManlinessJanuary 4

While we often think that the difficulty in defining manliness is a modern problem,   if one looks through books of the the early 20th and 19th century, you will find that authors of that  period also had a hard time nailing down exactly what manliness meant. Manliness  is one of those things that you know it when you see it, but find difficult to put into words. Therefore, this essay by James Freeman Clarke is a delight; it is succinctly defines what manliness is and what manliness is not.

True and False Manliness

By: James Freeman Clarke, 1886

MANLINESS means perfect manhood, as womanliness implies perfect womanhood. Manliness is the character of a man as he ought to be, as he was meant to be. It expresses the qualities which go to make a perfect man, — truth, courage, conscience, freedom, energy, self-possession, self-control. But it does not exclude gentleness, tenderness, compassion, modesty. A man is not less manly, but more so, because he is gentle. In fact, our word ” gentleman ” shows that a typical man must also be a gentle man.

By manly qualities the world is carried forward. The manly spirit shows itself in enterprise, the love of

Your Grandpa’s Diet PlanJanuary 2

With the New Year upon us, many men across the country are making resolutions for how they want to change in 2009. A good portion of men are likely making a commitment to get healthy and lose weight. These men certainly have a lot of information at their fingertips to help them accomplish this goal. Flip through the pages of any men’s health magazine, or stroll the diet section of your neighborhood bookstore, and you will see tons of articles and books claiming to impart the secret to finally shedding your large belly. Their formulas for success always include some combination of downing protein shakes, eating every three hours, cutting carbs, and trying the new crazy awesome super fat-burning fitness routine of the month.

With the treasure trove of information available on diet and fitness in this modern age, you would think that men today would generally be far fitter and trimmer than their forbearers. But as we all know, that isn’t the case. Paradoxically, as health information has increased, so have our guts. Instead of helping men get healthy, the cacophony of new studies and diet recommendations have distracted men from understanding that maintaining a healthy and manly physique is really quite simple. Your

The Best of Art of Manliness 2008January 1

It’s been an awesomely manly year here at The Art of Manliness. When we launched the site a year ago on January 4, 2008, we didn’t think the AoM community would get this big, this fast. In just a year, AoM has grown to almost 25K subscribers. The growth of the site has been driven by our fantastic readers. Thank you for being evangelists of manliness and thanks for the tips and feedback on stories. We also want to thank those who have taken the time to send us encouraging words via email. Kate and I are truly grateful for the support. Finally, we’d like to give a big thank you to all of our guest contributors who have provided quality articles for the site.

We’re also very excited about the Art of Manliness book which will be coming in Fall 2009. Kate and I have been working hard on it for many months and the manuscript is just about done.

Because it’s pretty much impossible to avoid the “Best of…..” lists this time of year, we figured there’s no sense in resisting the urge to create one of our own. For our new readers and as a review for our old readers, we present the Best of Art of Manliness 2008. We hope you’ve enjoyed AoM during 2008,