Lost Boys - by Alex Blower (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Since the mid-2000s, consistent commentary from politicians and media outlets in the UK have presented low educational attainment and low aspiration as defining attributes of working-class boys in education. It has often characterised them as misogynistic, aggressive and unwilling to learn. But how true is this?

Combining research, real-life case studies and the author's experience of navigating school exclusion, this book provides clear recommendations for how to better support the health, wellbeing and vulnerabilities of working-class boys and men through both policy and practice.

Challenging us to reconsider ideas about the role of masculinity in the lives of working-class boys and men, the book asks what would change if, instead of focusing on perceived individual failures, we considered the troubled relationship between working-class boys and the social and educational systems in which they reside.

Review Quotes

"Alex's readable, honest and passionate book offers a roadmap for hope in the way we see and support young working-class men." Sarah Atkinson, CEO, Social Mobility Foundation

"A beautifully written book. Thoughtful, deeply personal and combining years of practitioner experience, Blower has produced exactly the kind of generous, well-researched and hopeful account of young working-class men we need to counter dominant reactionary narratives." Sam Friedman, author of The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged

"Compelling, compassionate and uncompromising in its honesty. Lost Boys gives me hope." Jason 'Foxy' Fox, Special Forces Instructor, SAS: Who Dares Wins

"A game-changing take on masculinity - where sharp research meets raw personal insight." Darren McGarvey, author of Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain's Underclass

About the Author