This book combines a critical survey of the most current developments in the emergent field of Masculinity Studies with both a historical overview of how masculinity has been constructed within British Literature from the Middle Ages to the present and a special focus on developments in the 20th and 21st centuries.The volume combines seminal articles on the most important concepts in Masculinity Studies with new and innovative analyses of key British literary texts combining Literary and Cultural Studies approaches with those currently deployed in Masculinity Studies, Gender Studies, Legal Studies, Postcolonial Studies as well as methodologies derived from sociology.Contributors include acknowledged experts in the field of Masculinity Studies (such as Raewyn Connell, Todd Reeser, and Richard Collier) as well as eminent literary scholars (such as Rainer Emig and Christoph Houswitschka). The case studies included in this book address the most prevalent concepts in the field of Masculinity Studies, classical literary texts (such as Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur or William Shakespeare's As You Like It), as well as the works of contemporary authors like Ian McEwan, Hanif Kureishi, Caryl Phillips, and Will Self.