An in depth study of African men looking at what it means for an African to be masculine, and how male identity is shaped by patriarchal cultural structures and a variety of religious and knowledge systems. BNS, 256pp, UK. PALGRAVE/MACMILLAN.

Based on examples of interventions in five fields - reproductive, sexual health, fatherhood, gender-based violence, livelihoods, and work with young men - this study aims to provide a critical account of practical experience of work with men for gender equality. With case studies from around the world, including South Africa. Index, apps, notes, xvi, 240pp, UK. OXFAM PUBLICATIONS.

This working paper argues for a mature understanding of how gender, race, and poverty interlink to disadvantage particular categories of men, as well as women. Current 'in-house' approaches in more than thirty development organisations are reviewed, and suggestions are made for a more gender-balanced, male-inclusive approach. 5 tables, 2 boxes, app, vi, 60pp, UK . OXFAM PUBLICATIONS.

Several contributions explore the complex transnational intersections and interactions occurring in the way men's practices are developing across the globe. In addi-tion to this comparative analysis a wide range of national case studies are included, including one from South Africa. BNS, maps, figs, notes, bib, index, 288pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

This pioneering reader is designed to fill a glaring gap in the proliferating literature on gender and development, gender and international political economy, and gender and conflict. While there is now a broad and sophisticated feminist literature on the lives and experiences of Third World women and their role in development, there has been a tendency either to ignore men as gendered subjects, or to consign them to negative and stereotypical gender roles, often as victimisers and exploiters of Third World women. 320pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

Essays challenging stereotypes of African men, addressing meanings of gender and practices of masculinity in both colonial and post colonial periods. Countries studied include Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan. Index, refs, notes, b/w illus, map, xi, 265pp, USA. HEINEMANN INC.

In ten thought-provoking chapters, cultural commentator Bell Hooks, discusses the victimhood of black men in modern western culture. Looking at the ways in which they are hated, feared, admired and objectified, she describes the absence of love and the inability to confront systems of domination in constructive ways. Index, xvii, 162pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE, 0415969271