Where Have All the Cowboys Gone: Are Literary Men in Crisis?

In this special episode, hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman discuss the "crisis" du jour in American publishing: the erosion of male literary stars and their readers across the landscape of contemporary fiction. Is this even happening—and if so, why? Tackling cultural anxieties about the waning centrality of the straight, white male author alongside spurious statistics and questions about the material realities of publishing in the 21st century, the hosts break down the forces they see lurking behind the discourse.

Links:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/opinion/men-fiction-novels.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/style/fiction-books-men-reading.html

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/against-high-brodernism/

https://www.vox.com/culture/392971/men-reading-fiction-statistics-fact-checked

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n16/emily-witt/do-you-feel-like-a-failure

https://theconversation.com/a-new-publisher-will-focus-on-books-by-men-are-male-writers-and-readers-under-threat-255874

https://defector.com/the-plight-of-the-white-male-novelist