The Trouble With Boys: A Wise And Sympathetic Guide To The Risky Business Of Raising Sons [Paperback]

Angela Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 1995

A challenging and highly original look at the socialization of boys—the process that is creating the men of the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

British journalist Phillips (Until They Are Five, Routledge, 1989) here writes about the socialization process of sons-how boys become men. Her thought-provoking book raises many questions about the role of parents (particularly fathers) in their son's upbringing, but it is not a parenting guide, as the subtitle suggests. Phillips's assessment of and hopes for the future are rather bleak. In part, she contends, this results from boys being raised according to values from an older era than their contemporaries of the opposite sex. Although she generalizes her theories across the whole of U.S. and British society, many of her examples are drawn from the plight of urban African American families and families from the economically depressed Newcastle area in England. Readers may disagree with the author, but the value of her book lies in its focus on difficult, too-often-ignored issues. An appropriate purchase for large public libraries and undergraduate collections.
Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

British journalist Phillips (Until They Are Five, not reviewed, etc.) takes an inconsistent and often confusing approach to the subject of raising sons. Phillips argues that while women in the past 25 years have made great strides in moving beyond the confines of home and adapting to the demands of the outside world, men have not taken commensurate steps toward becoming part of family life. Consequently, many boys are still raised with absent, inattentive, or violent fathers or without any sort of father figures at all. Indeed, most boys, despite their mothers' efforts, have few role models for communicative, expressive, well-adjusted manhood. Though, happily, this volume is largely free of the nauseating smugness implied by the subtitle, it does have other weaknesses. Many of Phillips's seemingly authoritative and provocative statements are illogical or unsupported; she writes, for instance, that ``these days, little girls have no real reason to envy boys.'' (Many obvious considerations, ranging from discriminatory sports education to high rates of sexual abuse among female children make this a dubious statement.) Worse still, she presents many of her statistics in a confusing, ambiguous way that makes them hard to interpret; for example, she refers to some studies done in the United Kingdom, but often she doesn't specify which country she's talking about, and many of her pronouncements are unsupported by reference to specific studies. Anecdotal evidence is similarly often vague and murky; in one instance she states that a child is East African, then later identifies the same boy as Asian without any explanation. Robert Coles offers a blandly laudatory foreword. Phillips raises some crucial questions for parents of sons, but, disappointingly, this book is too scattered to explore them adequately. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (August 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465087353
• ISBN-13: 978-0465087358
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,395,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking, insightful and a good read, November 12, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trouble With Boys: A Wise And Sympathetic Guide To The Risky Business Of Raising Sons (Paperback)

Why is it that men are responsible for such a disproportionate number of the dysfunctional things that happen in society - violent crime, abandoning children, war, etc., etc.? Is there something odd about the process by which male children are raised? This author provides some illuminating ideas, and some intriguing facts. Angela Phillips has a command of the interesting statistics, but, as a journalist, presents these statistics in a very readable, absorbing form. A great read about a subject that is close to most peoples' interests