“Country Boys demonstrates how images and realities of the lives of rural men—from cowboys, farmers, and lumberjacks to militiamen, agrarian patriarchs, and the lads down at the local pub—play central roles in the social construction of masculinities of all sorts, as well as in the gendered construction of rural life. Avoiding both idealization and denigration of rural masculinities, these essays indicate and excavate, literally and figuratively, underexplored locations to yield important and enlightening sociological insights. The essays in this volume make a very significant contribution to our understandings of the economies, sexualities, politics, and health of rural life on a global scale.” —Harry Brod, University of Northern Iowa “This edited volume represents a solid contribution to two areas of study in sociology. . . . The editors present a cogent introduction to the field, and the last two chapters are thought-provoking explorations of the changes surrounding rural masculinities.” —A.A. Hickey Choice “The collection is refreshingly progressive and, at times, unapologetically optimistic, being run through with the leitmotiv of the very real possibility of change.” —Thomas Thurnell-Read The Sociological Review