The Language of Men

Foreword Magazine 2012 - Gold BOTYA (Memoir)
IPPY 2012 - Silver (Autobiography)

Growing up in a working class town on Long Island, Anthony D'Aries watched his father rebuild muscle cars, groove to rock 'n' roll, slice meat at the local deli, and bring roadkill back to life in his taxidermy workshop. Anthony, the impressionable younger son, loved his father. Emulated him. Acted out visceral scenes from "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" with his dad and older brother. Soaked up his father's lurid wartime tales - the hooch and the hos in 'Nam.

"The Language of Men" begins with Anthony's search to learn who his father was. When he travels to Vietnam with his wife, Vanessa, who has a job leading health and anatomy classes for sex workers in Ho Chi Minh City, Anthony isn't sure what he will find. Visiting Long Binh where his father was stationed, then seeing his relationship with Vanessa begin to deteriorate, Anthony arrives at realizations that begin to explain his father's life, as well as his own troubling behaviors. Reluctant to deny or admit complicity, Anthony returns home to look for answers in his past.

Anthony D'Aries directs the writing program at Regis College and is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast MFA program. He has also taught literacy and creative writing in correctional facilities in Massachusetts. "The Language of Men" (Hudson Whitman Press, 2012), is his first book, and has received the following awards: the PEN/New England Discovery Prize in nonfiction, ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award (Gold/ Autobiography), a silver IPPY, Honorable Mention for the New England Book Award. Anthony's work has appeared in "The Literary Review," S"olstice: a Magazine of Diverse Voices," "The Good Men Project," "Shelf Awareness," and elsewhere. In 2011, Anthony served as Randolph College's Emerging Writer-in-Residence.