Reviews

"The Psychology of Black Boys & Adolescents is destined to become the essential central volume, encompassing the greatest minds on the subject of black young males in America today. From the far-ranging issues of development/identity to community contexts, educational failure and success, central issues of parenting, physical health, and clinical treatments, these scholarly volumes contain the greatest extant cutting-edge knowledge on the lives of black boys in America ever compiled into a set of volumes within recent history! It is a must-read for any academic teaching about young black males’ lives, any policy maker attempting to create programs, and any parent or clinician helping children. It provides the data necessary to interrupt the 'cradle-to-prison pipeline,' as Marian Wright Edelman terms it, to offer black males opportunities for success."—William S. Pollack, PhD, ABPP, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and author of Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood

"This is a book that champions our sons, brothers, and nephews as well as our students, colleagues, and neighbors. Kirkland Vaughans and Warren Spielberg invite us to appreciate and embrace a black masculinity that they fully, complexly, and frankly portray. This edited volume draws on the talents of clinicians, sociologists, researchers, cultural observers, and experts in public policy to lay out the challenges black boys face, beginning with the first breaths they draw, in a culture that treats them as dangerous and disposable. Unblinkingly honest, Vaughns and Spielberg tackle delinquency, school failure, racism, violence, and the environmental and social factors that, over time, deprive black men of their health and shave years from their lives. However, this book offers so much more—it also gives voice to the strengths, creativity, and ingenuity young black men deploy to fashion lives of purpose and dignity. We hear from black youth often absent in our public discussions—those who are gender non-conforming, boys in independent schools, and boys with strong fathers. The Psychology of Black Boys and Adolescents introduces the reader to evolving academic disciplines and to new clinical frameworks. With this book, teachers, clergy, and clinicians can update their knowledge and, in doing so, enhance their ability to serve African American boys with the careful thought and sophisticated consideration they deserve and have not often received." —Kimberlyn Leary, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Chief Psychologist at the Cambridge Health Alliance

"Spielberg and Vaughans bring brilliant social science analytics and compassionate pragmatic thought to bear upon one of the our most troublesome problems in education, and they demonstrate both the promise and limitations of rationale thought when superimposed on the immorality of racial and economic subjugation. Thinking within these constraints, Spielberg and Vaughans presents a cogent program, informed by research, for intervening in the lives of a marginalized and oppressed group of young men. It is well that they include, as do I, rational defiance of racist oppression. For young men fortunate enough to experience what is prescribed an easier life is promised. The authors' very insightful interpretations, should be widely read. Their prescriptions are wise and very well-informed." —Edmund W. Gordon, John Musser Professor of Psychology, Emeritus; Yale University, and Richard March Hoe Professor of Psychology and Education, Emeritus; Columbia University