Abstract

In the six years since The Men’s Sheds Movement book in 2015, the Movement has broadened to include many other nations and also Women’s Sheds, encompassing almost 3,000 Sheds worldwide to 2021. Shoulder to Shoulder: Broadening the Men’s Shed Movement shines a light on the transformational experiences and positive impact that Sheds have had on the lives, health and wellbeing of men, women, families and communities. The book’s many powerful Men’s and Women’s Shed case studies highlight how shared, hands-on social activity by ‘shedders’ can reduce the potentially destructive forces of loneliness and social isolation, even during a global pandemic. It’s about the universal value of “having somewhere to go, something to do, and someone to talk with,” as envisaged in the very first Australian Men’s Shed in 1998. Informative, insightful, easy to read and carefully researched, Shoulder to Shoulder provides a well-documented tour de force of this globally expanding and broadening international movement.