It analyses ,"Iron John", a Brothers Grimm fairy tale in Joseph Campbell fashion to find lessons especially meaningful to men.
It builds upon material in "What Do Men Really Want?: A New Age Interview With Robert Bly" by Keith Thompson, New Age Journal, May 1982 and first appeared a series of pamphlets. The pamphlets were grossly misquoted by Susan Faludi in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1992 ISBN 0385425074)
Comparable to Clarissa Pinkola Estés's book Women Who Run With the Wolves. (ISBN 0345377443)
Robert Bly should not be confused with Robert W. Bly, a business writer.