Take one sobering statistic―the rate of suicide in men―and you begin to see how damaging the effects of the voluntary subjugation of men to their families, their businesses, and their governments can be. I’ve spent tens of thousands on self development and business programs and courses and this is one of the clearest and easiest to put into action life changing book I’ve ever read. Every man is born with just one thing: his sovereignty—his power to respond to his environment and his circumstances. Exploring the themes of nature, race, and the divine, this book identifies the more realistic alternative in the “relational subject”: a subject that is inseparable from the global field of relations through which it emerges and yet distinct from that field because it lives a life that no one else ever has.

He toys with the idea that men aren't allowed to be men anymore and then answers the question with, go be a traditional man anyway. Sovereignty without Power tells the story of Liberia, one of the few African countries to maintain independence through the colonial period. You can tuck tail and retreat to the life you’ve always lived, or you can decide right now that you will not quit and that the only way for you to go is forward. A great book that articulates what it means to be a man in the 21st century, with applicable advice to improve every area of your life. And that is the essence of what it means to be a Sovereign Man: maintaining accountability and responsibility to yourself.I really liked the principles he lays out and the actionable plan to continue growing and becoming more the man I'm capable of being. What may have started out as a choice became a pattern, and, as it goes, what became a pattern has now become a rut. Though I wouldn’t listen to current podcast episodes as they’ve gotten overtly political and very echo-chambery. Ryan is authentic and honest, and it shows through his talks and through the organization he has built with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. If you are interested in positive masculine ideals mixed with a healthy dose of stoic philosophy, check out this short book.

He is the author of three books including the The Gray Zone: Sovereignty, Human Smuggling, and Undercover Police Investigation in Europe (Stanford University Press, 2019); We Are All Migrants: Political Action and the Ubiquitous Condition of Migrant-Hood (Stanford Briefs, 2015); The Migration Apparatus: Security, Labor, and Policymaking in the European Union (Stanford University Press, 2011). I had high hopes for this book considering the excellent content Ryan provides through his podcast, and it certainly delivered. Sovereignty will upgrade your Internal Operating System (OS) to one that's effective, and empowered. While these trappings have vanished from our modern, capitalist age, this sphere, filled now with a new form of emptiness, insists with implacable force.Sovereignty plays a central role in modern political thought and practice, but it also remains fundamentally contested. Ryan does not just fill the book with motivational quotes, fluffy nuggets of wisdom, or generic "manly" maxims like, "Suck it up, and be a man. A self-help book that actually works because it challenges you to become the best version of yourself with practical, actionable steps and principles. There are a lot of things shared in this book that some would say is exaggerated and hyperbolic, but the author points these things out and explains why he uses the words he does.

It’s because I’m willing to accept my share of the fault that I make myself subservient to nothing and no one. Over forty years after the formal end of colonialism, suffocating ties to Western financial systems continue to prevent African countries from achieving any meaningful monetary sovereignty. While this is a choice from the author, I don't feel it helps with understanding the issues and their solutions, some of which are quite simplistic.

The personal development space is full of gender-neutral content, but recently, we've seen Jocko Willink's Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual, Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life, and Ryan Michler's Sovereignty hit the market, with a decidedly male tilt to their messages. In answering this big question, we learn much about migration, infrastructure investment and failed government policies, lessons of relevance to many other developing countries today. He shows us that the comfortable division between the social and the　natural has been erased and so the very boundaries and scope of human agency must be re-evaluated and reconsidered. Its great to have more people fighting back against the current efforts to neutrilize masculinity by culture today. I couldnt really find a comfortable speed for this book to really be able to acknowledge what he was saying.