Inside the training camps for “alpha males” episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 31, 2026 · 45 MIN

Inside the training camps for “alpha males”

from Fresh Air

The Trump era has brought a resurgence of the “alpha male.” ‘New Yorker’ writer Charles Bethea reports on camps where men crawl through mud and sit in ice baths, in an effort to reclaim masculinity. Bethea says what he found underneath all the warrior posturing surprised him: men in genuine pain who felt lonely and desperate for connection. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about his reporting. Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel by Tana French, ‘The Keeper.’See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Mar 31, 2026

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Inside the training camps for “alpha males”

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