On My Honor: Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth

by Jay Mechling

Book Overview

A timely contribution to current debates over the psychology of boys and the construction of their social lives, On My Honour explores the folk customs of adolescent young men in the Boy Scouts of America during a summer encampment in California's Sierra Nevadas. Based on more than 20 years of research and extensive visits and interviews with members of a single troop, Mechling uncovers the key rituals and play events through which they shape boys...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226517047
• ISBN13: 9780226517049
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Academic, but very readable

Excellent study of the Boy Scouts at the turn of the century seen through the experiences of one troop at summer camp. Mechling's compression of twenty years into one narrative can be slightly confusing in places, but works well overall. Though he makes no effort to hide his personal views (supported by sociological reasearch and his own experiences as a Scout), he carefully illustrates the complexity of the issues confronting the organization as it heads into its second century. I could have done without the Freudian analysis of teenage boys' relationship to their bodies, but otherwise it's a very thoughtful and thought-provoking book.

A close look at Scouting: Sympathetic but provocative

This is a very thoughtful, very provocative look at Scouting -- not only the Boy Scouts of America as an organization, but the experience of being a Scout for one troop of boys and their adult Scout leaders. The book keeps details of this experience in the foreground -- you really get to see what the Scouts do at their summer encampment, hear what they have to say, the kinds of jokes and stories they tell, and so on - but it also examines these details for what they reveal about young boys becoming older boys and older boys becoming men. All this works because the book is a good read, not only as a story (of one troop's summer camping adventure) but also as a meditation on adults and kids, American life in these modern times, and so on. Some readers and reviewers may try to pigeon-hole the book as a critique of Scouting, or focus only on the policy issues (i.e., how the BSA has handled issues of God, Gays, and Girls), but that's way off base. The author certainly gives some attention to these issues and he is critical of some official BSA positions. But he's also clearly sympathetic towards the Scouting experience, and he's smart about what's going on for kids of Scouting age. A fan of scouting who's taking a close look and asking important questions that go well beyond Scouting in their implications. Highly recommended.

On My honor

This was the best book I ever read.It was very exiting for me to read.I loved that book,and I would prefor to read. It would be a good book report.