从2011年至2022年，美国大学入学人数减少约120万人，男性占据大部分降幅；他们在劳动力市场的参与率也持续数十年下滑。《State of American Men 2023》报告显示，近三分之二的年轻男性认为“没有人真正了解我”，约三分之一在过去一周未与家庭外人士线下交流，近一半认为线上生活比现实更有意义。这种社会孤立与经济脱节的趋势使男性成长叙事缺位，流行文化更多被名人自传与网络“manosphere”占据，而普通男性的真实处境缺乏文学表达。

记者Alexander Hurst的新书《Generation Desperation: How I Made—and Lost—a Million Dollars》（2026年1月出版）以自身经历填补这一空白。他在疫情期间通过日内交易赚取逾100万美元后又迅速亏损，反思从克里夫兰到巴黎的青年漂泊与成年焦虑。书中揭示当代男性在被鼓励“追随激情”的社会中依然感到迷失，即便受教育程度高、履历完整，也未真正步入成熟。作者自述“漂浮感”与“情感成本”，折射出高债务、低确定性的千禧一代困境。

Hurst直面男性嫉妒与比较心理，描写其对友人财富与成功的羡恨，甚至担心心理医生会嫉妒其收入。作品通过失落实现成长：他重新发现现实社群与脆弱性的价值，提出理解男性网络文化与情绪表达的重要性。评论认为，《Generation Desperation》开启了新一代男性成长文学的缺口，展现脆弱、竞争与孤独如何共同塑造21世纪男性身份。

From 2011 to 2022, US college enrollment fell by about 1.2 million, with men accounting for most of the decline; male labor-force participation has also been slipping for decades. The State of American Men 2023 report found nearly two-thirds of young men felt “no one really knows me,” around one-third spent no in-person time with anyone outside their household in the prior week, and nearly half said their online life felt more rewarding. This isolation and detachment from economic roles has created a void in male narratives, with celebrity memoirs and the online “manosphere” dominating popular discourse while everyday male experiences remain underrepresented.

Journalist Alexander Hurst’s Generation Desperation: How I Made—and Lost—a Million Dollars (January 2026) seeks to fill that gap. He recounts earning and losing over $1 million day trading during the pandemic, tracing his path from Cleveland to Paris while struggling with modern adulthood. The memoir exposes how educated young men, urged to “follow their passion,” often feel directionless despite professional success. Hurst describes a persistent sense of drift and emotional cost, reflecting millennial realities of debt, instability, and existential frustration.

Hurst confronts male jealousy and competition, detailing envy toward peers’ wealth and achievements—even fearing his therapist might envy his income. Through loss, he rediscovers the grounding value of real-world communities and vulnerability, showing how maturity arises from connection rather than ambition. Critics view Generation Desperation as reopening the male coming-of-age genre for a new era, revealing how fragility, rivalry, and loneliness jointly define 21st-century masculinity.