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

by Jay Mechling (Author) "I have a rule that I turn off my car's music I ease off the state highway onto the crushed rock and dirt road that..." (more)
Key Phrases: patrol campfires, troop neckerchiefs, troop campfire, Boy Scouts, Insane Day, Treasure Hunt (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Based on more the 20 years of research and observation at a troop's summer encampment as well as extensive interviews with generations of scouts, this study investigates the effects of the complex, lived realities of scouting on boys as they struggle to define themselves. Mechling, professor of American studies at the University of California at Davis, argues that the founding of the U.S. Scouting movement in 1910 was a response to social concerns over masculinity that were remarkably similar to "the boy problem" of today. This historic frame gives the study broader dimensions, although for the most part Mechling concerns himself with analyzing the specifics and myriad meanings of camp songs, rituals, play and language. Not surprisingly, since one of the main purposes of Scouting is the production of "normal" (i.e., heterosexual) boys, homophobic language and slurs are "a central theme at [the] camp." Mechling does a great job at detailing how, ironically, forms of homoeroticism (including transvestism) are promoted to reinforce a heterosexual identity as well as alleviate sexual and identity-based tension. Using a wide range of critical and cultural works, plus a detailed examination of how Scouting manuals have changed over the years (especially regarding volatile issues like masturbation), Mechling weaves his observations into an evaluation of how Scouting's self-image and purpose has changed in response to social transformations, and finally into a critique of the national Scouting policy forbidding homosexuals, atheists and girls to join. Measured in its criticism, and ultimately supportive of Scouting (while acknowledging the pain experienced by gay scouts), this is a smart book that combines fascinating research with a critique of contemporary politics. (Nov.)Forecast: The Scouting ban on homosexuals continues to be a contentious issue, from funding to membership. This book will be brandished by the left and thundered against by the right in short, it should be well reviewed and is a possible pundits' sleeper. Prominent display in gay and lesbian sections or stores should result in steady browser sales, and campus sales are also assured.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Mechling (American studies, Univ. of California, Davis) condenses 20 years of research on Boy Scout Troop 49 into an account of one two-week encampment in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. He examines the Scouts' recent problems with the "three Gs" God (should atheists be admitted to the Scouts?), girls (should young women be admitted?), and gays (should openly gay Scouts and Scoutmasters be admitted?) and delves into how the Scouts attempt to mold boys into heterosexual men. Some readers will find his highly psychoanalytic interpretations hard trekking seeing cans of Coca-Cola as symbols for feces seems to be pushing the envelope a bit. Others might react negatively to his observation that in order to create the heterosexual male the Scouts instill unhealthy doses of misogyny and homophobia. And still others will blanch upon hearing that the Scout camp emulates a huge, outdoor, boys' locker room, complete with raw language, bawdy jokes and songs, and fixations on flatulence and females. Mechling feels that there is much good to be said about the Boy Scouts, but after reading this study readers might have their doubts. Recommended for large public and academic libraries. Jim Burns, Ottumwa P.L., IA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (November 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226517047
• ISBN-13: 978-0226517049
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,465,224 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A close look at Scouting: Sympathetic but provocative, March 28, 2002

By A Customer

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.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Margaret-Mead-type of excursion, May 22, 2005

By	C. T. Kalm - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mechling approaches his subject in an extremely scholarly fashion, which makes the book a bit schizophrenic between a journal article or thesis and a popular non-fiction-type of read. As it was published by the Univ. of Chicago Press, this isn't surprising. Some excellent nuggets on leadership and its various meanings; interesting sidelights on current controversies. However, nothing that would give a reader a sense of what scouting would be like or the type of boys scouting attracts/serves. A very fly-on-the-wall approach that allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.

4.0 out of 5 stars Academic, but very readable, August 20, 2003

By A Customer

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.