Who Needs Friends : An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America
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Overview
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A moving and provocative exploration of male friendship and loneliness, from New York Times bestselling author, filmmaker, and actor Andrew McCarthy as he crisscrosses the country to reconnect with his friends.
“You don’t really have any friends, do you, Dad?”
A seemingly innocuous, if direct, question from Andrew McCarthy’s son left him reeling. McCarthy did have friends, but like so many other men, the necessities of modern adult life had forced his friendships to the background. At one point his friends had been instrumental in broadening his horizons, bolstering his courage, providing safe harbor. Now, McCarthy found himself questioning what had happened to those friendships, whether he needed them, what he valued, and what he had to offer. A simple question had become a moment that demanded a reckoning.
WHO NEEDS FRIENDS charts McCarthy’s journey over nearly ten thousand miles behind the wheel, following him on often-unexpected travels through Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, the Chihuahuan Desert, the Rocky Mountains with one driving purpose: to reconnect. Along the way he talks to countless men about their male friendships, from cowboys and blues musicians to preachers and rootless teens. What began as a simple desire to catch up with a few friends turned into a deep exploration of the challenges and rewards that men experience in forming bonds with each other. In McCarthy’s own words, “It turns out that guys have a difficult time with friendship.” But that’s not the way it needs to be.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781538768945
- ISBN-10: 1538768941
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
- Publish Date: March 2026
- Dimensions: 8.46 x 5.83 x 1.14 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.86 pounds
- Page Count: 320
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- 1
“You don’t really have any friends, do you, Dad?” Andrew McCarthy’s son asks him one day, and McCarthy pauses. Seemingly without much further planning, the actor and author sends a flurry of texts, proposing adventures and visits. Soon, he hits the road. This time, he’s not traversing Spain’s Camino de Santiago with his son (Walking With Sam) or hiking through dense Costa Rican rain forests (The Longest Way Home). He’s driving across the United States to reconnect with friends.
As he writes in Who Needs Friends: An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America, McCarthy ultimately travels more than 10,000 miles, from New Jersey to Kentucky to Texas to California—with many stops in between. In part, this is a book about a man in late middle age reuniting with specific people, and readers see that happening through text exchanges, visits and the memories that McCarthy recounts. But it’s also a story of an American road trip, and an exploration of how McCarthy’s deteriorating ties speak to the larger topic of men and friendship, something he discusses with many men he meets along the way. Whether large groups connected by faith and tradition, lifelong pairs or self-described loners, McCarthy finds that men want to talk, and he reports what he hears.
McCarthy, who has been a travel writer for more than 20 years, also pauses and lingers at sites that mean something to him and the America he knows. These sites range from Uvalde Elementary School to the birthplace of Elvis, from the barn where Emmett Till was lynched to a corner in Winslow, Arizona, made famous by an Eagles song. McCarthy’s America is rife with personal memories, but also with cultural touchstones and shared history, painful and pleasurable. The friendships he rekindles, too, are not without heartache. Some friends are experiencing difficulties, and their lives are more complicated than McCarthy could have imagined. Ultimately, though, Who Needs Friends is a hopeful story about the passage of time and friendship that, while unscientific, may inspire readers to pick up a phone and call someone. In doing so, McCarthy shows how to connect not only with others, but also with the fullest versions of ourselves.
“You don’t really have any friends, do you, Dad?” Andrew McCarthy’s son asks him one day, and McCarthy pauses. Seemingly without much further planning, the actor and author sends a flurry of texts, proposing adventures and visits. Soon, he hits the road. This time, he’s not traversing Spain’s Camino de Santiago with his son (Walking With Sam) or hiking through dense Costa Rican rain forests (The Longest Way Home). He’s driving across the United States to reconnect with friends.
As he writes in Who Needs Friends: An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America, McCarthy ultimately travels more than 10,000 miles, from New Jersey to Kentucky to Texas to California—with many stops in between. In part, this is a book about a man in late middle age reuniting with specific people, and readers see that happening through text exchanges, visits and the memories that McCarthy recounts. But it’s also a story of an American road trip, and an exploration of how McCarthy’s deteriorating ties speak to the larger topic of men and friendship, something he discusses with many men he meets along the way. Whether large groups connected by faith and tradition, lifelong pairs or self-described loners, McCarthy finds that men want to talk, and he reports what he hears.
McCarthy, who has been a travel writer for more than 20 years, also pauses and lingers at sites that mean something to him and the America he knows. These sites range from Uvalde Elementary School to the birthplace of Elvis, from the barn where Emmett Till was lynched to a corner in Winslow, Arizona, made famous by an Eagles song. McCarthy’s America is rife with personal memories, but also with cultural touchstones and shared history, painful and pleasurable. The friendships he rekindles, too, are not without heartache. Some friends are experiencing difficulties, and their lives are more complicated than McCarthy could have imagined. Ultimately, though, Who Needs Friends is a hopeful story about the passage of time and friendship that, while unscientific, may inspire readers to pick up a phone and call someone. In doing so, McCarthy shows how to connect not only with others, but also with the fullest versions of ourselves.