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Restless Men

Masculinity and Robinson Crusoe, 1788-1840

  • Book
  • © 2014

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Authors:
  1. Karen Downing

    1. School of History, Australian National University, Australia

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Crusoe’s Chains

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 1-13

  3. Confined by the Gout — Perceptions of Men’s Physical Health

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 14-32

  4. The Ecstasies and Transports of the Soul — Emotional Journeys of Self-discovery

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 33-51

  5. My Head Filled Early with Rambling Thoughts — Raising Boys and Making Men

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 52-70

  6. Satisfied with Nothing but Going to Sea — Seafaring Lives and Island Hopes

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 71-88

  7. To Think that This Was All My Own — Land, Independence and Emigration

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 89-109

  8. The Middle Station of Life — The Anxieties of Social Mobility

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 110-128

  9. A Surprising Change of Circumstances — Men’s Ambivalent Relationship with Authority

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 129-148

  10. The Centre of all My Enterprises — The Paradox of Families

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 149-167

  11. Conclusion: ‘Robinson Crusoe Untravelled…’

    • Karen Downing
    Pages 168-175

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 176-237
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Reviews

"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

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of History, Australian National University, Australia

    Karen Downing

About the author

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.

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