Company Men

KING OF THE MISSISSIPPI

by Mike Freedman

HOGARTH

256 PAGES; $26

Wharton’s worldview is developing a new name — toxic masculinity — and no longer do money, whiteness and a swinging dick guarantee dominance.

IT’S EVERY AMERICAN’S GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO SELF-MYTHOLOGIZE, EVEN to the point of absurdity. Take the current president (please): Donald Trump has somehow managed to package and sell himself as a swashbuckling working-class hero who clawed his way to the top against all odds. ¶ Other folk heroes keep quiet and let the mythology in which the King of the Wild Frontier meets the self-anointed King of the River, buffoonish keelboatman Mike Fink. The slovenly Fink looks strong-jawed Crockett up and down and says, “You’re about a foot shorter than you oughta be.” Crockett only smiles, allowing his sidekick to answer on his behalf: “Don’t worry; he’s still a-growin’.”