Overview

"In other times and places the passage from boyhood to manhood was dramatized and facilitated by initiation rites. In ritualized fashion, the complex problems of personal development were translated into clear and concrete tasks. But in the dazzling variety of modern America there is no universal test or ceremony that bestows manhood: each male must find a group with its special initiations, or devise an initiation of his own. He may climb mountains, play football, join the army, pledge fraternities, impress the girls, and get drunk with the guys. But where do these free-style initiations lead in the end?To find out, Ray Raphael conducted in-depth interviews with one hundred American males ranging from a Mr. America body-building to a practitioner of witchcraft, from a ""right stuff"" fighter pilot to a draft dodger, from a self-proclaimed Don Juan to a ""superdad."" ""The Men from the Boys"" is the first and only book-length study of contemporary simulations of classical male initiations.The results of this study are unsettling. Initiations today function more as tests to determine who can make the grade than as educational tools that encourage the development of all young men. In the absence of inclusive rituals, Raphael's subjects struggle to overcome doubts as they negotiate their own paths to maturity. Their personal tales, told with dramatic and emotional intensity, speak to all American males who find themselves torn between a unisex modernity and more archaic notions of masculinity."

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Why are men so nervous about their own masculinity? asks Raphael (Cash Crop, 1985; Edges, 1976). One answer suggested by this intelligent study, based on Raphael's in-depth interviews with 100 males aged 15 to 50, is the lack of appropriate rites to mark the passage from boyhood to manhood. Bereft of traditional rites of passage, most American males settle for makeshift arrangements that nonetheless manage to capture some of the special blend of pain, physical dislocation, and new identity bestowed by ancient ceremonies. Thus Will Bell found that his first days in the army brought him a new appearance (a shaved head), new clothes, and great physical trials. Ken B. went to medical school, where he donned clothing (white robe) and spoke a new language. Roger G. invented his own rites of passage, involving days in the wilderness where he ate raw trout that he had caught barehanded. David Smith swam from Africa to Europe. Other men found suitable initiation rites in Masonic lodges, college fraternities, or organized war games. Raphael has mixed feelings about these practices, which may be too ersatz to really satisfy, and which often involve competition that creates losers as well as winners - a far cry from ancient cultures where everyone succeeded in becoming a man. More a diagnosis of the problem than a prescription for healing - and clear evidence that maleness is a tremendously complex, vexing problem in our increasingly unisex society. (Kirkus Reviews)

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"Ray Raphael, who teaches part-time at the College of the Redwoods, is the author of ""Edges"" (1986), ""Tree Talk: The People and Politics of Timber ""(1981), ""The Teacher's Voice"" (1985), and other books."

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