Boys will be boys … an insight, an explanation, and at times an excuse. But what does it really mean to be a boy today? With more boy-targeted music, television, and movies than ever, a growing national diversity, challenging family dynamics, and a variety of good and bad role models, being a North American boy is a vastly different experience than it was just a few decades ago.
Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia spans the breadth of the country and the full scope of a pivotal growing-up time to show what “a boy’s life” is really like today. With hundreds of entries across two volumes, it offers a series of vivid snapshots of boys of all kinds and ages at home, school, and at play; interacting with family or knocking around with friends, or pursuing interests alone as they begin their journey to adulthood.
Boy Culture shows an uncanny understanding of just how exciting, confusing, and difficult the years between childhood and young adulthood can be. The toys, games, clothes, music, sports, and feelings—they are all a part of this remarkable resource. But most important is the book’s focus on the things that shape boyhood identities—the rituals of masculinity among friends, the enduring conflict between fitting in and standing out, the effects of pop culture images, and the influence of role models from parents and teachers to athletes and entertainers to fictional characters.
