Angry Young Men: How Parents, Teachers, and Counselors Can Help Bad Boys Become Good Men

by Aaron R. Kipnis

Book Overview

Writing from personal and professional experience, Aaron Kipnisshares both the riveting story of his own troubled youth-and how heturned himself around-and the successful approaches he has used tohelp "bad boys" become good men. Angry Young Men offers specific, practical advice for parents, teachers, counselors, communityleaders, and justice professionals-- everyone who wants to helpat-risk boys become strong, productive, caring, and compassionatemen...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787960438
• ISBN13: 9780787960438
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A must read for any one who works with young men

This book is excellent! I work in a correctional facility and it has really helped me to understand the young men that I work with. I plan on reading it with them and having discussions on the information presented. Many of these young men come from the "5-H club" mentioned in the book. They need people who understand where they have come from and what they have gone through. I'm not saying they shouldn't be punished for their crimes, but I feel we need to find alternative solutions for these young men, rather than putting them in an adult prison where they only learn new and more dangerous crimes from the hardened criminals.

First Hand Experience

With all the sensational press about the dangerous young men in our schools and neighborhoods, it is refreshing to read Kipnis's first hand account of what contributes to the despair and hostility in troubled adolescent boys. His book has specific suggestions for addressing the problems he identifies in clear and compelling language. This book, and "Raising Cain" by Dan Kindlon amd Michael Thompson have been the best insights into the life of boys that I have read this past year.

San Francisco Chronicle-Dec, 1999

San Francisco Chronicle-Dec, 1999 Reviewed by Jules Siegel "Most convincing, of all recent offerings on this subject, is Angry Young Men by youth crime expert Aaron Kipnis, a former street person and delinquent who was in and out of Los Angeles juvenile detention centers, jails and foster homes in the late Sixties and early Seventies, mostly for non-crimes such as running away from home to escape being beaten by a brutal stepfather. Written with unflinching and often shocking candor, Angry Young Men is a heart-pounding reading experience. It tells in harrowing detail exactly how violent criminals are created by poverty, fractured families, prison-like schools and a criminal justice system that seems to be designed to create and maintain a new class of mostly black slaves to feed its voracious demands. Complementing the author's personal experiences, Angry Young Men offers an especially thorough and persuasive agenda for changing the way our society's institutions create violent crime. The book is undoubtedly the indispensable document on the subject and deserves very careful attention and respect."

Angry Young Men

In this riveting account of the effects of the criminal justice system on boys and men in our culture, Dr. Kipnis sounds a cry of alarm:In our overemphasis on criminalization and punishment and our underemphasis on mental health care and healing, we are failing our boys.At the same time, we have created a gulag, a prison subculture that is now big business and that requires us to feed it money and men. This impeccably researched work deserves to be read -- and acted on -- by parents of boys, service providers of boys, policy makers, and educators. The author's personal story, my favorite section, is a contemporary hero's journey that offers hope to any reader.

Highly recommended for professionals and the general public.

From Library Journal-- The author's own history is a litany of physical abuse, parental neglect, abandonment, foster homes, homelessness, drug use, and juvenile incarcerations. With determination and, importantly, help, young Kipnis managed a lifestyle change: He earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is now on the faculty of Pacifica Graduate Institute. He has since worked to instill his belief that a culture that learns to understand and address the needs of young males, especially those of social, racial, or economic minorities, is financially, practically, humanely wiser than one that locks them up or puts them down when their frustration erupts in disruptive social and/or criminal actions, as his did. Kipnis persuasively contends that parenting and job-skills training programs, counseling, community services, and affordable quality education is infinitely more effective in encouraging constructive behavior for them and their progeny than America's increasingly popular punitive response. Highly recommended for academics, professionals, and the general public.--Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology, Alfred Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.