Ken Harland and Sam McCready: Boys, Young Men and Violence

In Boys, Young Men, and Violence, Ken Harland and Sam McCready provides the results of an 18-year study that focused on the development of adolescent boys and young men ranging in ages from eleven to twenty-three. Harland and McCready looked at how Northern Ireland’s violent history, patriarchal society, and views of violence and masculinity influenced the different parts of everyday life of adolescent boys and young men during their development. What makes this book so critical in understanding the development of adolescents is that it illustrates the necessity to understand their concerns and opinions and it gives recommendations as to how to approach and deter the role of violence in adolescent development. Harland and McCready reveal how the role of violence in the lives of adolescents, especially adolescent males, has been under theorized and under studied. They provide data and ideas that are particularly needed by educators, professionals, officials, and researchers worldwide, to better respond to at-risk adolescent boys and young men who struggle with violence on an everyday basis. …