Rating: 
Summary: Generalizing gender
Review: The seeds of gender politics have harvested some bitter fruit. Careers blighted, marriages sundered, and hopes dashed by policies derived from artificial foundations [see Helen Garner's The First Stone for excellent case study of GP tactics and their impact]. All the individual destruction pales in light of what has been happening to a generation of schoolchildren - the most vulnerable element in any society. Sommers provides the first clear indication of what is happening to male schoolchildren, and what might be done to reverse the plunging achievement levels among American boys. As a result of Sommers' work, studies in Canada reflect a similar condition among boys. Why are boys falling behind?Sommers' thesis is that the past generation of feminist propaganda bemoans "low self-esteem" among adolescent girls. This assertion is based on false information, with Sommers focussing on Carol Gilligan's work as the primary culprit. Gilligan kept her data secret and her assertions weren't substantiated by later research, according to Sommers. However spurious the evidence, a fusillade of allegations has led to numerous government shifts in education policy to benefit girls. The result hasn't benefitted girls as much as humiliated boys. The basis of the policy, in the words of Gloria Steinem, is that "we need to raise boys like we raise girls." This attitude, Sommers contends, is designed to treat boys as something to be "cured." Sommers would rather support them as boys, establishing equity based on valid assessments of their needs as well as that of girls. To her credit, the book offers numerous suggestions for restoring the achievement levels boys have lost. Sommers' assault on "progressive" education will jar some readers. A return to 18th Century school conditions is fraught with difficulties - not least of which is teacher allocation. She stresses that strrengthening education in responsibility and civility will necessarily focus on boys, with males likely carrying much of that teaching load. The primary purpose of this book is to alert parents to what is happening in their schools and what the impact will be to reverse the process. Sommers' focus on the classroom skirts the home environment in her assessment. The Colombine High School massacre, an event she revisits frequently, might have been avoided by better weapons control. Sommers is to be congratulated for eschewing assessments of boys' attitudes about their repression. She doesn't impart resentful views to them, latent hostility to the girls who have been elevated over them, or other intangibles. She sticks to the numbers and the cases that typify what is happening to boys and who has instigated their degradation. She accepts the recent findings of evolutionary psychologists who have provided improved insights into natural male/female roles. It's a pity she doesn't offer a reading list on this topic, but it's a rapidly expanding field. Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate, recently published, also targets Gilligan's contentions about "low self-esteem" among girls. This book is long overdue and has arrived in time to prevent the loss of another generation of boys. Prevention, however, means a wide readership and prompt action on the part of concerned parents. It's certainly a "must read" book for those with children in public schools. Reading alone will solve nothing, however. Readers must seek out what programs are being implemented in local schools. If Sommers' national numbers are reflected locally, then parents must stress change to restore the balance she asserts is being lost. Read and reflect - then act.
Rating: 
Summary: Gilligan's Island and Other Tall Tales
Review: The war against boys started as a defense of the "fragile girl". Carol Gilligan, a professor of gender studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a respected authority in her field, is a "scholar" of girls and their "crises". Ms. Gilligan points out that the fragile adolescent girl, as she grows up, hits a wall of Western culture and gripping patriarchy, and then finds herself in danger of disappearing in a demoralized state. This synopsis has become known as the "girl crisis", a crisis given much time and scholarly attention by the gender studies types (read, feminists). In all their enthusiasm for equity theories and social conditioning, they have turned girls into victims, and seek a type of "gender justice" to allay evils of the past. American Enterprise Institute scholar Christina Hoff Sommers breaks down the many myths perpetuated by Ms. Gilligan and her fellow gender studies savants. After all, gender studies programs around the country are nothing more than a group of anti-male commentators that are out to enrich feminist fantasies at the expense of our nation's men. Sommers shows us why this is true, and also, the real purpose and aim of their research. Sommers points out the driving force of the gender equity movement is a sort of vengeance, to give back to girls what was wrongfully taken from them and handed over to boys. Gender theorists rely on claims of girls not being called on to speak in class and being shortchanged in self-esteem teaching, in order to justify that girls are lacking proper engagement in the educational setting. However, studies show that it is boys that are lacking the abilities of engagement much more so than girls. The girls come to school more prepared to learn, more willing to study and do homework, and tend to excel more in terms of grades and extracurricular activities. The gender theorists, with Carol Gilligan at the forefront, argue that this doesn't hold; that as girls reach adolescence, they soon become background noise as society turns its attention toward boys. The result is, they lose confidence, insight, and ability, and they are no longer optimistic for the future.
The only obeisance from Gilligan comes in the form of acknowledging that boys were also having troubles, but this was a result of being forced into an overly masculine culture and trying to live up to society's stereotypes of what a man should be. Of course, there should be little disagreement of what a man should be. After all, stereotypes are true because they are conventional portraits of what is. A boy is to be a boy, and then becomes a man. A boy becomes a man by gaining strength, courage and chivalry. He is taught to respect females as truly precious beings. He has to cultivate masculine leadership skills that are necessary for his work and for raising a family. However, the popular claim is that boys are being wrongly masculinized and that boy-raising should be reconstructed toward a more sissified upbringing skewed toward emotional and sensitivity training. As Gloria Steinem says, "We badly need to raise boys more like we raise girls." Indeed, that is not a misprint. Another hilarity, though one not even shared by most "social construction" theorists, is feminist philosopher Sandra Lee Bartky and her conviction that "human beings are all born bisexual into a patriarchal society, and then, through social conditioning, are transformed into male and female gender personalities." Most disturbing, is the fact that the gender studies people never seem to produce the empirical evidence to support their claims. They only come armed with anecdotes and hypothetical expertise in such matters. For instance, in Carol Gilligan's 1982 book, In A Different Voice, her thesis relied on the data from three surveys. Sommers points out that the studies were never named, published or peer-reviewed. The studies, small in scope and number of subjects, were deemed too "sensitive" for public viewing. She points out that the standards for acceptable scholarly research are certainly not complied with in this case. This gender equity gibberish is all the rage in the university setting. Gender studies, women's studies, and feminist programs are the toast of the town. Groups like the American Association of University Women and the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women are given lofty status, and their studies and recommendations are not ever subject to scrutiny because of their politically correct standing. Christina Hoff Sommers does a commendable job in breaking down the fallacies of popular gender studies perception, and she in turn shows how our boys are really the deprived class as we move from a patriarchal society toward a feminization of institutions and customs. Where Sommers goes awry is when she gives a run-through of various public school programs that have admirably shied away from some therapeutic practices, and have instead taught morals, character, and discipline in its place. The whole character education movement sounds delightful and somewhat conservatively-based, however, none of this teaching belongs in the hands of state educators in the first place. In fact, public schooling is the first obstacle in the education of our young boys and girls. Schools should exist to teach our students to be literate, to think, and to study humanities, science, and math. Therefore, establishing conservative feel-good programs as an alternative to egalitarian liberal programs is never a solution. The education of our youth should not be a public good. Not putting your boy in the hands of state indoctrinators is the first step toward raising a boy to be a man.
Rating:
Summary: The difference between a review and a screed
Review: No other nonreligious book that I know of polarizes people as much as this book. Now, if you read the 4 and 5 star ratings you are treated to lucid sentences and cogent praise and suggestion. Read the one stars and you get hate filled diatribe and rhetoric. One poster even had the gall to call this book garbage and one said that Christina "doesn't look after her sisters" and her husband found the book offensive. Yeah right. That man is whipped. This book, along with all books by Summers is expertly written. The people who seem to hate her books the most are the dyed in the wool gender feminists and viticrats. What, does this book hit to close to home?
Rating:
Summary: A Book For Our Time
Review: I read this book while I was pregnant with my beautiful son. It was timely, because it gave me a lot to think on, in terms of how I want to school my son. Another aspect of it's timeliness....post- Sept. 11, there seems to be a new appreciation of masculinity in this country. This book provided much food for thought. Christina Hoff Sommers is a personal hero of mine, because she has managed to put together the facts and incidents to describe the effects of feminism on our country. She clearly describes specific events and publications, and demonstrates the intended and unintended consequences of applying the dogmatic prinicpals of feminism. It is a hard-to-put down book! I would highly recommend this book to all parents of sons. I am definately taking my son out of school for "take our daughter to work" day and going to the zoo or science museum in protest at the unfair treatment boys now get.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: There are so many excellent and positive reviews from others that I shant waste time saying what has already been said. As a Libertarian I will say that I found the writer to be articulate in explaining how the pendulum has swung to far to the wrong directions and that two wrongs don't make a right. That it is true that in the quest to assure that females/girls/women/lesbian what have you were and are treated in a fair and equitable manner that in many ways we thru the baby out with the bath water and that boys who will someday grow into men and many, become fathers, are being sent messages that in many ways are making them fear women and not respect them. That it isn't women's fault totally, but that feminists like Dworkin etc who have sought to make men/males into the enemy. Not possible equal partners but the enemy. And that boys who are reared to feel that somehow they are part of a patriarchy they have never heard of nor wish to be part of, are the enemy nonetheless. And then there is the whole disregard by many feminist's of the scientifically proven differences in the sexes. A fact that is overlooked and both young boys and young girls are the pawns. That boys who are seen as unimportant or the enemy grow up to see women in an almost apathetic way. One need only see the negative aspects of the radical feminist hand to see that women aren't better off either when we target young boy and then men as the enemy and basically treat them as the outcasts or the enemy. This is a must read book.
Rating:
Summary: to better understand education and gender
Review: War against boys is a good resource to help to understand how our educational system. Education has done a lot to help girls out, who are now doing better then boys and are more likely to go to college. The book deals with how the process happened and what can be done to help boys do better in school like single sex education (which the book says is good for both genders). It goes into detail about problems of girls in education has been addressed really well and given a lot of attention, but so far not enough attention has been given to boys.
Rating: 
Summary: this book is garbage
Review: For anyone that cares about achieving true gender equality, read this book only to learn more about what you're up against. The author pretends to be presenting revolutionary ideas but instead is reinforcing the same old patriarchal, mysoginist, anti-progressive ways that women and men alike have fought so hard to reconstruct. Don't be fooled!
Rating:
Summary: Sexism is taught by Mothers
Review: Christina Hoff Sommers is in denial. Boys certainly are not suffering in American society based on the studies in the books Hoff Sommers tries to tear apart. Making boys aware of sexist behavior and teaching them to be respectful of others does not make them into girls, it makes them into ultimately cool males.
Rating:
Summary: The war against boys
Review: Ms. Sommers seeks to set the Women's movement back by one hundred years with her attempt to overthrow the few steps forward our sex has been allowed to make in this last twenty to thirty years of struggle. Her book is another example of the "backlash" we have had to face in the last few years. Her education and obvious skill in writing are overshadowed by her message. It astounds me that a contemporary of mine has such a poor outlook for women, (she certainly isn't looking out for her sisters).My husband thought it an insult to men as well. Perhaps she is seeking some measure of fame in trashing the views of pioneers such as Carol Gilligan. I would not recommend this book to anyone wanting equality for the sexes.
Rating:
Summary: Honest, truthful, and important
Review: Christina Hoff Sommers tells it like it is. She makes her points clearly, with thorough documentation and precise logic. What's so disturbing is that some people interpret her work as argumentative or polemical, even "right wing," when in fact she's anything but. Logical, compassionate, and thorough, she's written a book here that anyone who cares about boys really needs to read.
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