This book is presented as the male version of Reviving Ophelia. It addresses what our society needs to do to allow “real boys” to be free of “gender straight-jacketing”, a term used by the author to denote those actions and feelings which are to be avoided by boys so as not to be considered effeminate by our society. The author also addresses the “mask” of boys. He identifies this as the denial of those actions and feelings used by boys to avoid feelings of shame brought on by others’ knowledge of anything deemed less than truly masculine.

Some excellent ideas are presented. There are two chapters which, I feel, contain particularly valuable information. The first is how schools can assist boys who are “acting out” in an effort to assuage their emotional pain. The second is how others can help boys who are feeling the pain of their parents’ divorce. Those chapters and others describe causes of emotional pain, symptoms, and measures that can be taken to deal with problems specific to boys. All of the text is inextricably bound up with the idea of “gender straight-jacketing”. A more heavy-handed editor could have made this book much easier to read. I feel much of the information is repetitive and long-winded. Nevertheless, the important information contained in the book makes it worthwhile reading despite this unfortunate drawback.