The History of Masculinity, circa 1650–1800

Generally, historians of masculinity between 1650 and 1800 have not engaged with the question of men's power to the same extent as nineteenth- and twentieth-century historians have. In this brief review of the historiography on masculinity for the period 1650–1800, the author first outlines the contours of this field, necessarily surveying only the highest elevations and the deepest depressions. In outlining the historiographical character of men between 1650 and 1800, the author's main interest is in picking out the key changes and, in particular, the disjuncture between the man of 1650 and the man of 1750.