Rating: 
Summary: War for War's Sake
Review: The War Against Boys does nothing to further thoughtful discussion of the important issues that face boys growing up in contemporary America. It denigrades educators and community leaders who have worked tirelessly to ensure equal opportunity for all of our children, boys and girls alike. The very title of Sommers' book: The War Aginst Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men makes one wonder what her real purpose is -- to attack feminism or to promote healthly and successful lives for boys. Her recommendations for improving boys'academic achievement are not supported by educational research. The Washington Post Book World review (July 2, 2000) points out many specific fallicies and distortions in Ms. Sommers' research. This reader would recommend more thoughtful recent works on boy's lives for educators and parents that present positive strategies, not blame. These include Real Boys by William Pollack and Why Boys Don't Talk and Why We Care by Linda Gordon and Susan Shaffer.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: I read CH Sommers' other book, and loved it, but felt that what she needed was a better comprehension of the academic philosophy behind what she calls gender feminism. It came about in France in the 1970s under the heady days in which the French were in love with Maoism. (Just look at a movie like Cronenberg's Madame butterfly and check out the crowd scenes -- I wa sthere, and that 's the wave still animating feminism today, although they don't know it).Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva, are keys to the enigma of gender feminism. They were both ardent Maoists in the 1970s, a fact which is skirted over by today's feminists. The war against boys is a Maoist war, a Cultural Revolution, meant ot humiliate and castigate members of the former regime. Check out Madame Butterfly, and then read June chang's Wild Swans, and see if it doesn't fit. If Sommers knew this, and could argue for good old-fashioned liberalism against Maoist/Marxist tyranny and vengefulness, her books would get to the root of this poisonous Venus fly-trap called gender feminism. Meanwhile, her books are still the best thing we've got.
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Summary: The Rise of Rousseau: Permissiveness in American Education
Review: While the _War Against Boys_ is mostly about the book's subtitle, How Misguided Feminism is Harming Young Men, the book eventually evolves into a discussion of permissive education and the role of Rousseauian ethics in current-day education. Hoff Sommers discusses how Aristotle has been supplanted by a more progressive view of the role of educators and education in the life of our children (teachers as "guide on the side," etc.). Hoff Sommers believes that while progressive values in education harms both boys and girls, it is boys who most need a moral education along with the three R's. I like Mary Daly, Andrea Dworkin, Ehrenreich, English, and some of the other 1970s and 1980s feminist writers, but that doesn't preclude a look at the other side of gender politics, which Hoff Sommers ably presents. She does a nice job of deconstructing pillars of modern-day feminist research, such as Carol Gilligan. It's not hot air here. The book is for reflective educators who appreciate a good dichotomy on values in education. Not very "correct" by focusing on boys; nevertheless, a good read on the place of values and gender politics in education.
Rating:
Summary: She is saying what most of us knew all along
Review: Ms. Sommers has taken an idea that all in education knew years ago and put it into focus. The idea that girls have it so much tougher than boys is refuted by the facts: the highest % of young people who kill themselves, take drugs, drop out and are "at risk" are...... boys. The AAUW needed an agenda and they got one and the media went along for the ride.
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Summary: A Must Read For Every Parent
Review: ....we're being sujected to ...theory being taught as fact, which isjust as damaging. C. H. Sommers does an excelent job of bring toevery parents attention the danger lying ahead. She tells how everyone from the Dept. of Education to the American public has been duped into believing there is a problem with our children. If you have girls you will want to read this to ward-off the effects this teaching could have on them. If you have boys, you'll find out what you can expect from a lot of schools when it comes to your sons wanting to run, jump, or play with other boys-not allowed. C. Sommers does and excelent job of giving the 90's history of Misguided Feminism.
Rating:
Summary: Well researched and replete with common sense
Review: Christina Hoff Sommers craftfully refutes the new orthodoxy which asserts that girls are discriminated against in schools, and that boys should be encouraged to be more sensitive and nurturing. Sommers, using a wealth of data, shows that girls, in fact, do better in school, feel they are treated fairly more than boys do, sre less likely to be disciplined, are more likely to go on to college, etc. Even statistics that seem to favor boys are, in fact. skewed. For example, boys have slightly higher SAT scores than do girls. However, significantly more girls take the SATs. Boys who are likely to get lower scores don't take the test whereas girls, who are more likely to go to college, take the test even if they are at risk of getting lower scores. Therefore, the average SAT score for boys and girls give a false picture of how well girlas are actually doing relative to boys. Sommers also explodes the myth that boys are separated from maternal care too early to their detriment. In fact, Sommers demonstrates that a huge number of boys are raised without fathers and that it is a father figure who has a civilizing effect on young males. Sommers notes that normal, healthy male behavior is viewed as pathological. I heard Sommers interviewed on a radio show and she aptly pointed out, contrary to some viewpoints, boys involvement in cub scouts and little league does not make them potential batterers. These are activities that normal, healthy boys want to do, not the product of pressures of a patriarchal society. Sommers views alleged evidence supporting the new attitudes toward boys as part of a political agenda rather than the result of sound scientific research. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: Excellent! A must for All Parents
Review: First, get past the provocative title and try to read this objectively. It's really not just a book for conservatives, although it will drive some feminists and folks in the education establishment nuts. Sommers illustrates in a clear and direct style how some women's groups and institutions have furthered their own political agendas by promoting shoddy research and disseminating information that is untrue. Consequently, these groups have made boyhood in the year 2000 pathological--something that must be changed. Luckily most parents of boys have more common sense than the feminists and educators being influenced by them. Yet, every parent with a son should read this to develop awareness and to protect their child. Parents with daughters would also be well advised to read this book, as Sommers shatters the popular notion that girls are confident at 11 and have shattered self esteem by 16. Sommers investigates the research herself and relies heavily on facts and statistics in drawing her conclusions. When you've finished reading this one, you'll be convinced it's time to protect our boys from the heavy boot of propoganda.
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Summary: This is what I call Speaking Truth to Power
Review: Sommers will get nothing but trouble from the dominant media culture for daring to expose the war against boys (and against truth, facts, and reason) certain hyperfeminists waged throughout the nineties. We need more courageous voices like Sommers' in this Country if we are ever going to expose the endlessly perpetuated lies of the left, and the real harm their policies continue to cause.
Rating:
Summary: Timely and well done
Review: This book should be read together with "Lost Boys" and "The Scarred Heart" to understand what is going on with today's boys. An excellent piece of work.
Rating:
Summary: Life-changing experience
Review: Every page of this courageous book is brimming with stunning revelations in support of Christina Hoff Sommers' contention that this country is waging a secret war against boys. Any American who cares about the moral direction of the nation should immediately purchase a copy of this book and read it cover to cover. As a direct result of reading what Hoff Sommers has to say about the crisis among our underserved young male population, I will dedicate myself to becoming an activist in support of gender equity -- for boys' rights in our public schools. "The War Against Boys" is a watershed work that, years from now, will be cited as the wake-up call that inspired millions to rescue their sons from intellectually-fraudulent political dogma that is intended to systematically destroy their self-esteem and well-being.
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