On My Honor - The Secret History of the Boy Scouts of America - E-book - ePub

Pulitzer Prize winner Kim Christensen charts the dramatic rise and fall of an American institution. Since its founding in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has been the nation's premier youth organization, espousing self-reliance and honor. More than 100 million Americans have been Boy Scouts, from Bill Gates to Martin Luther King Jr. Today, however, Scouting faces an existential threat of its own making: more than 82, 000 former Scouts have filed claims alleging they were sexually abused-seven times the number of similar allegations that rocked the Catholic Church two decades ago.
  The Scouts' indefensible practices remained all but hidden until 2012, when Kim Christensen and his colleague published a series of explosive articles for the LA Times, blowing up a century of secrecy. Now, continuing his decades-long investigation, On My Honor untangles the full story of the Boy Scouts of America, tracking its creation, growth, influence, and the massive generational trauma it has caused.
Using the iconic institution to tell a story of American values over the last century, the book grapples with America's changing understanding of what it means to "make men."         This riveting story of power and abuse, religion and politics, scandal and justice, is brought to life by groundbreaking research and an unforgettable cast of characters.