This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** From elementary school into adulthood, boys and men read less, and less well, than girls and women. Fourth- and eighth-grade boys are roughly a year (10 points on the NAEP reading test) behind their female classmates in reading. Maybe the books being published and taught in schools simply aren’t appealing to men and boys. Editors who review manuscripts are naturally biased toward books that suit their own tastes, and only 29% of people working in publishing are men. The same applies to the teachers who pick reading materials for the classroom. Elementary- and secondary-school faculties have long been overwhelmingly female, and the proportion of male teachers just keeps dropping; it has shrunk from 30 to 23% since 1988. And while English professors are 45% men, they’re likely within a rounding error of 100% feminist. In fact, university departments of literature are a major source of the man-bashing narrative. College teachers of literature seem more eager to paint the “hardboiled masculinities” of Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner as unhealthy coping mechanisms than to value those authors for their natural appeal to male readers and their subtle treatment of “gendered” issues. Consider just three examples from these great American writers. “Hills Like White Elephants” by the reputedly misogynist Hemingway is, among other things, an intricate and damning exposure of men’s responsibility for abortion. And in Faulkner’s “Go Down Moses,” the life trajectory of Isaac McCaslin is, again among other things, an extended meditation on the complicated relationship between a man’s ambition, his moral choices, and his chances of sexual satisfaction. In other words, it’s a story that would be very relatable for incels. And Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” is a master class in the limitations of a life of resentment. But instead of classics that would have any appeal to men, the works taught in our colleges have been selected according to the principles of “feminist pedagogy in higher education.” Women’s wellbeing has been the focus, while men, their interests, their needs, and their potential have been treated with aggressive neglect, or even active enmity. Ironically, the man-bashers seem to have conjured up the very thing they were afraid of. The instances of male hostility toward women that we now, unfortunately, do see in podcasts and on social media are pretty clearly in reaction against 50 years of hating on men as selfish, oppressive, and violent; portraying them as bumbling idiots in entertainment and advertising; making them the big losers in divorce; catering to girls’ interests and lavishing disproportionate attention on them in the education system, to the detriment of boys; and “fighting the patriarchy” and “breaking the glass ceiling” with affirmative action that locked many men out of jobs and, as Helen Andrews points out, has sentenced others to work in HR-ified offices reminiscent of Montessori kindergartens. The affirmative-action regime, together with the decades-long taboo against mentioning any unflattering facts about racial and ethnic minorities, is ginning up some other ugly things in tandem with misogyny. A not insignificant number of young white males are flirting not only with hostility to women but also with racism and antisemitism. Which is why my heart sank when I first saw Kruger’s Korps: A World War II Thriller, the newest work of fiction by my old boss and long-time friend Harry Crocker (H. W. Crocker III to the reading public). Harry and I see eye to eye on most things, but I think he’s soft on the Confederacy. (In my humble opinion that’s a blind spot attributable to his having grown up in California, while I was born into the Jim Crow South, where it was pretty much impossible to miss the long shadow of my ancestors’ sins). Oh boy, I thought, looking at the title and author’s name in Nazi blackletter font on the cover of Kruger’s Korps. An adventure story with Nazi heroes. That’s exactly what we don’t need, just when young men on the right are falling prey to conspiracy theories about the Jews. But I was wronging Harry. I don’t want to spoil any part of the intricate plot of Kruger Korps. Suffice it to say, it’s clear to the reader by page seven that the Nazis of Afrika Korps are not going to be the heroes of the story. Quite the contrary. This is a quintessentially American adventure that transports the reader back to the can-do optimism of the World War II era — a time that feels like a different age of the world, though it’s actually within living memory. Here’s to hoping that lots of demoralized Nazi-curious young men who don’t remember America before we were losing an endless succession of “forever wars” get pulled in by the cover and find themselves swept up in this healthy American story. Young white men today have plenty of excuse for resentment, but living on resentment and excuses is the road to misery. The eponymous hero of Kruger’s Korps models the opposite path: pursuing his patriotic ideals by tackling every impossible challenge with infinite resource and sagacity. But the book doesn’t just teach; it also delights. The absurd obstacle course our hero dives and jumps his way through is a thrill a minute. The historical references are a hoot: What missionary priest do we meet in the interior of Africa? Rad trads will guess the answer. And the prose is also a lot of fun. Harry Crocker is always a clever writer, but he outdoes himself here: “So,” I said to Steiner, “that’s the cause of all this. At least Dr. Faustus traded his soul for his every ambition, but to trade your soul for what—that woman, opium?” “People make bad choices all the time, lieutenant—trading paradise for a rotten apple, becoming a pillar of salt to satisfy curiosity, betraying the Son of Man for 30 pieces of silver. Have you not read that book?” Kruger’s Korps is exactly what we need more of — and apparently are going to get. Because Harry Crocker isn’t the only Regnery alumnus working to fill the gap left by the feminized publishing houses and the feminist professors. In fact all three of us who were senior editors at Regnery when I was there are now doing our bit for fiction that appeals to men and boys. That’s a switch from the kind of books we edited at the venerable conservative publisher, which since its foundation in 1947 has published almost exclusively conservative non-fiction. But we’re all working from the premise that “the social imaginary,” as Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan frequently points out, is shaped by the stories we read and watch. The third senior editor from my time at Regnery, who before that was a veteran science-fiction editor, is Tony Daniel, who is now the founding publisher of the brand-new Ark Press, an imprint of Passage Publishing devoted to putting out the kind of genre literature that appeals to male readers — but not to the East Coast women who dominate American publishing. The graphic-novel version of “American Paladin” by bestselling urban fantasy author Larry Correia launched the imprint in December of last year; Ark will publish the hardcover on June 23. Other recent and upcoming titles from the new imprint include “Red State Mars” by Travis Corcoran; “The Timerman,” set in a 25th century Yukon Confederacy with no electricity or computers; and the comic spy novel “The Pickle Factory: A Tall Tale of the CIA” by first-time author Sam Oyken, about which I keep hearing raves from every editor who worked on it. Ark is committed to discovering and fostering new authors with significant prize money. And I’m doing my part, working to get out the word about the classics of the old literary canon that have been despised and neglected precisely because they appeal to men — in lectures featuring Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat,” Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River,” Faulkner’s “The Bear,” and J. D. Salinger’s “For Esmé, with Love and Squalor.” This Father’s Day, your gift — whether it’s a classic or a just-published book — can be an enthusiastic vote for the revival of a cultured, healthy, and successful masculinity. *** Elizabeth Kantor is a freelance book editor and the author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature.”

A town in upstate New York voted to remove the LGBT “Pride” flag earlier this month, sparking outraged protests and an act of vandalism. For the first time in the town’s history, Webster Town Supervisor Alex Scialdone on June 1 raised the gay flag at Town Hall and issued a “Pride Month” proclamation. After public comment from residents, Republicans elected to the town board voted to effectively remove the “Pride” flag by adopting a policy that limits flags on town property to the U.S. and New York state flags. By June 5, the “Pride” flag was removed. At the removal, protesters gathered outside Town Hall, and some LGBT activists screamed and yelled about the flag removal, which was captured on video taken by town supervisor candidate Kevin Lockhart. One woman wearing a rainbow sweater claimed she “nearly died five times in the last month,” supposedly over LGBT opposition. Another said “children will kill themselves for this.” “We see, we hear, we will not live in fear,” was also chanted by protesters. Days later, the American flag at Town Hall was moved to the bottom of the flagpole, and an LGBT flag was flown far above it. According to U.S. Flag Code, no other flag should be flown above the American flag when displayed together. “I remain steadfast in my advocacy for the LGBT community; however, I do not condone any flag being placed above the American flag,” Scialdone said in a statement. “When Town personnel became aware of the unauthorized lowering of the American flag on Town Hall property, immediate action was taken to raise it back into place.” It’s unclear if anyone has been held accountable for the unauthorized tampering. The Webster Police Department confirmed to The Daily Wire that an investigation into the matter was opened, but was recently closed. No other details were provided. Lockhart, who’s running as the first independent candidate for Webster town supervisor, said he wants peace for all town residents and “will not hesitate to stand for the principles” important to Webster residents. “As the town of Webster’s first independent candidate for town supervisor, I have spent countless hours listening to residents and hearing their concerns about preserving our town’s history, culture, and values,” he told The Daily Wire via email. “As a Christian, I believe pride is a sin and that every person, myself included, is called to humility, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ. While I would rather avoid cultural and political conflicts over symbolic issues such as flag displays, I will not hesitate to stand for the principles I believe are important to our community,” Lockhart added. “Above all, my prayer is not for division but for reconciliation — that all people would come to know Jesus Christ, receive His gift of salvation, and experience the transforming power of His grace.” Currently, the American flag is the only flag flying at Town Hall, and padlocks have been added to the flagpole. Screenshot: Kevin Lockhart Penfield, New York, another suburb of Rochester, garnered national attention last year too. School board members representing Penfield Central School District alarmingly walked out on a packed house of parents who were upset about an inappropriate book titled “The Rainbow Parade” by Emily Neilson that was on display at the elementary school library. The book in question is about a young girl attending a pride parade with her lesbian parents. The illustrations show men in sexual BDSM gear holding hands, drag queens, and naked people. Instead of taking on comments from concerned parents, the board’s president called a motion to adjourn and ended the meeting abruptly. Kimberly DeRosa, who attended the meeting, told The Daily Wire that it ended after “more than an hour of presentations celebrating ‘Black History Month’ and the superintendent detailing the process of submitting objections to books in the school.” Related: School Board Walks Out On Parents Angry Over ‘Rainbow Parade’ Book For Kindergarteners

The man accused of being the ringleader of a group planning to attack the UFC Freedom 250 White House event last weekend is an illegal immigrant from Mexico.  Abraham Alvarez, who the Justice Department said was “responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the planned attack,” overstayed his visa after being brought into the country as a child. He was first granted deportation relief under former President Barack Obama, Fox News reported Thursday.  “From his home here in Nebraska, Alvarez allegedly directed and recruited others across the country to conduct a horrific attack against government officials in a mass casualty event. Our team worked around the clock to locate and apprehend Alvarez, take him into custody, and collect crucial evidence,” said FBI special agent Eugene Kowel on Tuesday. This is a breaking story. Refresh for updates.

Twenty-five years ago, it didn’t matter if you were red, white, blue, black, gold, or purple. On July Fourth, our nation’s birthday, Republicans and Democrats both showed up for the party. Not anymore. In 2026, we can’t agree on the color orange, whether water is wet, or what the American flag even stands for. And the polling proves it. Sixty-four percent of Republicans will display the American flag on July Fourth. Democrats? Twenty-seven percent. Back in 2001 — before the towers fell, before the culture war went nuclear — Democrats and Republicans were nearly identical in how proud they were to call themselves Americans. Eighty-seven percent of the country, unified, coast to coast. Then came the decades of left-wing institutional rot, and here we are: 90% of Republicans say they are proud to be American. Democrats? 29%. That is a 61-point gap between two halves of a country that used to grill out together. Absolutely pathetic. The Left has always been a little less enthusiastic about American symbols, but this is more than dyspepsia; this is pure contempt. More Gen Z Democrats say they have little or no pride in being an American than say they are extremely or very proud. Think about that. The party of “our democracy” has produced a generation that actively dislikes the country more than they love it. Instead of parties this July Fourth? They’ll be hosting off-key sing-alongs, mourning deported illegal aliens, and papering their doors with rainbow stickers. Old Glory won’t make an appearance. Here’s why that matters. That flag proudly wears thirteen stripes for the colonies that told a king to pound sand in 1776. Fifty stars for the states bound together under a Constitution that declared rights come from the Creator — not from government. It flew over Washington, crossing the Delaware in the snow. It inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem while British rockets lit up the night over Fort McHenry. It led the charge at Normandy and planted itself on the moon. The stars and stripes don’t represent perfection. They represent the longest-running experiment in ordered liberty the world has ever seen. The modern Left cannot rally around any of that. Their entire worldview requires them to see America as an original sin that can never be forgiven. Slavery existed here — just as it existed on every continent for thousands of years. The difference is that the principles in that flag gave Americans the moral and legal tools to end it. The Left’s preferred history — the 1619 Project revision pushed in classrooms and newsrooms — pretends those principles never existed. It teaches children that the country was founded on oppression rather than on the radical idea that all men are created equal. The feature, ladies and gentlemen, never the bug. The New Left that took over universities in the 1960s and 1970s did not want to reform America. It wanted to delegitimize it. Herbert Marcuse and the critical theory crowd taught a generation that Western civilization, and America in particular, was the source of all repression. Repressive tolerance became the rule: shut down any defense of the country as “hate,” while every grievance gets a platform. Decades later, the results are in the polling. Democrats who went through that education system now look at the flag the way a vampire looks at garlic. They’ve been trained to see every American success as stolen and every American failure as proof the whole thing is rotten, all while living in the country with the highest living standards, the strongest military, the freest speech, and the most opportunity any large nation has ever produced. The hypocrisy writes itself. So let them sulk. Let them treat July Fourth like a national day of mourning. The rest of us still believe in the country that produced the Wright brothers, the polio vaccine, the internet, and the men and women who stormed beaches to liberate continents. Republicans aren’t just holding the line. We are still building. Entrepreneurs are creating jobs instead of burning buildings. Mothers are raising children instead of raising fists at the system. Young men are enlisting or starting businesses instead of majoring in resentment. The revolutionary spirit that won independence never left the Right. It just got busy winning in the real world. The numbers keep dividing because one side loves what America is, and the other resents what it has achieved. That isn’t a disagreement over policy. That is a fundamental rejection of the country itself. Democrats hate the flag. We don’t. This July Fourth, fly it anyway. Fly it high. Fly it for the people who built this place and for the ones still trying to keep it worth defending.  The Left can keep their grievance parade. The rest of us have a country to celebrate.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** As a freshman in high school, my friends and I didn’t avert our eyes in the hallways when the jocks or seniors walked by; we averted our eyes from the tail-wearing furries. By no means was I considered “cool” — my friends and I were nerdy kids who took art and theater classes — but even we were made uncomfortable by the aggressive, antisocial behavior of our school’s small population of self-identified “furries.” High school is already a confusing time, and adding in the anthropomorphic obsession didn’t help. Traveling in small packs, they usually had tails pinned to their sweatpants and whiskers drawn on their cheeks with eyeliner, and they sometimes yipped like dogs. At late-night parties, we gathered around to tell stories about what they did at parties, in the full fursuits that they hid from their parents. They would post videos of themselves working on their fursuits or acting out their “fursonas” to trending TikTok songs.  If you think that furries are rare, you’d be wrong. My average-sized, suburban Wisconsin high school was rooted in a generally conservative community. Despite this, there were several very progressive student groups, a large LGBT club, and, of course, quite a few furries.  Once a fringe subculture, dressing like animals has in recent years exploded into the mainstream. Many people join the furry fandom through social media sites, initially engaging with fan art or role-playing in their newfound fursonas. Finding hard data on the number of people who identify as furries is difficult because the community is extremely private, primarily interacting online under the guise of anonymity. However, furry conventions offer some insight into how populous the subculture has become. In 2025, the largest furry convention, Anthrocon in Pennsylvania, set a record of 18,300 attendees. That same year, Furry Weekend in Atlanta had 17,700 attendees, and Midwest Fur Fest near Chicago had 16,900 attendees. Additional conventions in Florida and Texas have seen their attendance peak at around 10,000. Smaller, regional meetups are also becoming increasingly common, with new events being introduced each year. Furry communities have also been arranging meetups at music festivals, comic cons, and Renaissance fairs. Some self-reporting from these conventions and online polling has revealed a lot about furry demographics. Unsurprisingly, almost 75% are under the age of 25, 84% are male, and 83.2% are white.  Furry culture — which involves dressing up and role-playing as an anthropomorphic creature — appeals to a very specific demographic.  It’s almost impossible to talk about the people behind the fursuits without talking about the sexual stigmas surrounding furries. This is the extent of most people’s understanding of furry culture, and it’s not entirely unwarranted: A survey of 334 male furries found that 84% identified as “non-heterosexual” and 99% stated that there was “some degree of sexual motivation involved” in their interest in furry culture. The survey also discovered that participants felt some degree of both attraction and arousal toward other anthropomorphic characters. Other studies have found that more than 70% of furries are members of the LGBT community and as many as 25% may be “gender diverse.” The growth in furry culture is tied to the growth in the LGBT community.  Gen Z is overwhelmingly more likely to identify as LGBT, indicating that young people are increasingly open to alternative lifestyles. In the case of furries, the subculture is slowly becoming normalized. When I graduated from high school, I was friendly with two kids who were both members of the furry fandom, one of whom identified as transgender and one of whom was bisexual. Neither of them ever mentioned it, and I only knew about it from lunchroom gossip and Snapchat screenshots of their fursuits.  However, in the few years since I graduated, the furry trend has become more socially acceptable. Faux-fur fashion has become incredibly popular, with a 220% increase in searches for faux-fur styles (not all of this is tied to furries, of course). Around the same time, animal tail styles began appearing on runways, with high-fashion brands such as Chloe selling clip-on fur tails for nearly $700. Other accessories, such as cat ears and cartoonish paws, have also become more common in alternative stores like Hot Topic. Furry-inspired styles are increasingly being found in clubs and at raves.  The uncomfortable truth is that furries are becoming normalized. Most young people who are interested in furry culture probably initially approach it as a fun alter ego. They’re primarily quirky kids who feel like they don’t fit in, with large numbers claiming to have been bullied as adolescents. However, it’s a kind of escapism incompatible with reality. Normalizing furry culture allows people to remove themselves from their bodies. Similar to how transgenderism lets people deny their biology, fursuits and fursonas allow people to deny their biology, too. Pretending to be another species will not solve kids’ problems.  Furries aren’t as fringe as they once were. They’re in schools across the U.S., and they’re increasingly going to be your coworkers, customers, and acquaintances. Our culture pretends that human bodies don’t matter, but they do. The people I went to high school with weren’t anthropomorphic wolves; they were self-conscious teenagers who needed guidance. Underneath all of the fur, we are still just dealing with people. *** Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College.