Definitely worth reading, but...
"Our Guys" is a book that should be required reading in most schools. Especially in high schools across America. The author introduces us to the detailed account of the Glen Ridge raping in 1989, and displays all facets of the story to the reader. Perhaps by reading about a suburban town, like most others in this country, we can all gain a better understanding of the nature of young adults, and the dangers of communities trying to cover up serious crimes for fear of media coverage.
My only issue with the book is that the author spends far too much time on a perpetual soapbox, letting the reader take in pages upon pages of commentary and analysis. It is clear that the author has a problem with "jock culture", and school athletics. The book's important story sometimes suffers a detour because of the author's insistence that the reader clearly understands the author's perspective on the community, the defendants, and the victim. It would have better suited the reader if the author's commentary were relegated to a section of the book, as opposed to appearing throughout the narrative.
Interesting insight into the sociology of a small town
This book catches your attention within the first 30 pages. The description of how a group of high school athletes violated a developmentally disabled peer with a broomstick and a baseball bat was hard to read. But nonetheless very interesting.
I wondered what the next 400 pages held if the author had described the event already. The rest of the book describes the town of Glen Ridge, where the alleged rape took place. The author describes the boys behavior, bizarre masturbation in classrooms, "voyeuring" (which is when the boys would engage in sexual acts with girls and let their friends watch from a window or closet), as well as increased, almost obessive fascinations with porn. I found it very interesting and thought it was a great idea to put into the book the societal factors of the boys behaviors into the book because it may explain why the boys acted the way they did.
Also, i feel that the author tried to give both sides of the story during his description of the actual court hearings. However, it did seem bias in most cases in favor of Leslie.
I really enjoyed the book, thought it was written well (even though it seemed repetitve at times), and also gave a good look at how a society in a small town can influence a young mind so profoundly that teenagers cannot form morals or respect for others. I recommend this book for all, especially those looking to work in sociology or with mental health.
Brutal encounter in Glen Ridge.
I live less than a block away from Glen Ridge, NJ, so naturally, I was very interested to read this disturbing account describing high school jocks sexually assaulting, in a brutal manner, a retarded girl in the basement of the house where two of the perpetrators lived. I still recall reading about the incident in the news (at the time I lived in NYC), and wondering how kids could be so cruel.
In "Our Guys," Bernard Lefkowitz does an admirable job at covering some central themes surrounding the harrowing incident: i.e. the so-called alleged "consent" issue of the victim; the culpability of those who witnessed the event but did nothing to try to stop it; the ostracism of the one student who revealed what happened; the "jock culture" encouraged by Glen Ridge; the town's propensity to look the other way, and give every benefit of the doubt (and even support) "our guys," even when it was clear that something very ugly happened in that basement; the breaks that the perpetrators received from police and the Courts; the defense lawyers who attempted to portray the victim as a Lolita who was in control of the circumstances (one lawyer bizarrely repeatedly referred to boys being "magnetized" to her, and visa versa, when she developed breasts) and portray their clients as basically good kids, but "boys will be boys."
The book reads like a train wreck -- ugly and disturbing, but you can't look away. Lefkowitz, who completely convinces the reader that a crime certainly took place, isn't shy about making very definitive conclusions, which, at times, I took issue with. First, I can certainly understand the school's position in waiting until all the facts were known before taking any steps against the students in question. Let's not forget that Duke University recently came under fire for jumping to conclusions in the ongoing case involving the Lacrosse players and a stripper who initially accused three of them of rape. In the Duke case, of course, the "victims" appear to be the accused, and the perpetrator both the stripper and an overzealous, unethical prosecutor (it often just depends on what the facts eventually reveal).
Second, I don't think that Lefkowitz's attack on the "values" of the town of Glen Ridge, or the so-called "jock culture" in general, are entirely fair. The Scherzer twins and Archer Brothers, were, pure and simple, bad kids. You take away this one incident, and you would still say that. The fact that they were decent athletes and good looking may have contributed to their ability to get away what they did, but those qualities certainly don't cause one to be bad.
Third, some of things Lefkowitz describes are questionable in my mind. For instance there's a three day party at a classmate's house, where the drinking is rampant, and the students basically destroy the house. No neighbor calls the police for an entire weekend in a quiet suburb? How is that possible? A boy who repeatedly exposes himself during class and no disciplinary actions are taken? Most of the girls mentioned in the book seem to have weak characters and are completely under the spell of these boys. Where are those girls who despise these guys, as I'm sure their must have been?
Any parent of children of high school or pre-high school children will be frightened and horrified by "Our Guys." However, knowing a number of people in Glen Ridge, I can tell you that when they discuss the high school, they're proud of the academics, and athletics rarely comes up. Maybe things have changed. Or maybe Lefkowitz tended to over-exaggerate one of his central themes: that the Glen Ridge "culture" somehow created these bad kids who committed this, and other terrible acts.
A condemnation of bullying and playing favoritism
Horrific tale of the brutal 1989 gang rape of a mentally disabled teen committed by a group of New Jersey high school star athletes and a condemnation of the bullying and jock culture that spawned it.
This true story tells how the local community, the school board and the police sought to cover up and minimize their actions by demonizing the victim.
Curt Rowlett,
Author of Labyrinth13
Gripping
A disturbing journalistic account of a gang rape of a mentally retarded girl by athletes in an upper-class New Jersey town. Bernard Lefkowitz doesn't just report the "facts" of the crime, as in many books in the "true crime" genre. He also analyzes the culture of an upper-class community to illustrate the masculine norms that fuel such crimes and hamper reporting and prosecution. Indeed, one of the most astonishing aspects of this case was that the elite circle of teenagers at the local high school all knew about the crime for many months before it was finally reported - by an African American boy who became a paraiah as a result. The book is incredibly well researched; Lefkowitz (a journalism professor at Columbia University) obviously immersed himself in the case and the community. [...]
(74 reviews)
