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By Eric Rosenblum
What makes a book a must-read for men? A certain amount of daring, for starters. Philip Roth and Nicholson Baker were fearlessly frank in revealing the dark underbelly of male sexual desire; Michael Herr and Hunter S. Thompson put their lives on the line to gather their material; and Ralph Ellison risked obscurity by rendering a deadly serious story with humor and artistry. We’ve picked 20 books that we think every man should have on his bookshelf—and we know that quibbles are inevitable. The Sun Also Rises instead of For Whom the Bell Tolls? Where the hell is Fight Club? But there is solid underlying rationale at work here: In each of these writings something wonderful was created from a subject that could have come off as downright bleak. There are plenty of guy reads about war, sex and sports, but only a handful that transcend those topics. These are books that help a man discover and define his own masculinity. 
Photo: Hunter S. Thompson by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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