On my honor: Boy Scouts and the making of American youth

'On My Honor' explores the folk customs of adolescent males in the Boy Scouts of America during a summer encampment in California's Sierra Nevada.

Mechling uncovers the key rituals and play events through which the Boy Scouts shapes boys into men.

He describes the campfire songs, initiation rites, games, and activities that are used to mould the Scouts into responsible adults.

The book provides a provocative, sometimes shocking glimpse into the sexual awakening and moral development of young men coming to grips with their nascent desires, their innate aggressions, their inclination toward peer pressure and violence, and their social acculturation.