Time's 'Deeply Moving' Account of a Million-Joint Pothead Dad

December 17th, 2009 8:30 AM

In the midst of their list of the Ten Best Nonfiction Books of 2009, Time magazine honored the novelist Michael Chabon for his nonfiction work Manhood for Amateurs. In the magazine, it received just a blurb: "A deeply moving, sometimes hilariously embarrassing investigation of what it means to be a father, son, and husband in the 21st century."

Online, what must count as a "hilariously embarrassing" part was highlighted by Time's Lev Grossman:

Once again, media liberals find illegal drug use amusing, just a little embarassing -- and thoroughly typical when it comes to evaluating "what it means to be a father, son, and husband in the 21st century." Apparently, according to Time, another typical manhood exercise in the new century is finding the right "man purse" for your belongings:

Chabon brings his prodigiously entertaining verbal intelligence to a very personal investigation of what it means to be a father, a son and a husband at a moment when those job descriptions are so plagued by contradictions that a simple act like buying a bag to put your stuff in — a man purse, or "murse," if you will — is all but impossible.

Let's ask again: How "mainstream" are the "mainstream media"?