Smoke and Mirrors: The Hidden Context of Violence in Schools and Society [Paperback]

This edited volume is an interesting collection of essays that provides a passionate cultural critique of American democracy and the failure of its social institutions to reduce violence and promote social justice.The articles stretch our definition of violence and its causes, including thought provoking critiques of gender ideology and the destruction of humanity through oppressive social structures. The book is extremely well written.Readers will appreaciate the honesty in this book. Smoke and Mirrors challenges us. It asks us to take responsibility for ourselves and to help our children.A collection of ten wide-ranging and provocative essays that is assembled as a multi-sited ethnography.While policy makers are demanding zero tolerance, metal detectors, high stakes testing, criminalization of and Prozac for youth, all of which serve to sever the ties between youth, schools, and community, the writers in this text commit to a deep, provocative analysis of the thick social context that has produced, and can mediate, youth violence. This book has none of the 'smoke' mentioned in its title; much is revealed and little clouded over. But true to the title, this book reads like a cultural mirrora terrifying reflection of late capitalist America as a factory for youth alienation and violence. The writers insist that educators, activists, communities, academics, parents, and policy makers attend critically to the ways in which we have contributed to the production of 'youth violence.'In this timely and thought-provoking collection, seasoned educators and cultural theorists examine the connection between youth violence and the realities faced by many children-poverty, racism, unequal opportunity, and the media's glorification of violence.Many of our countryOs children face daily a threat to their personal safety and well-being. As school boards, law enforcement officials, and policymakers continue to look for ways to stop youth violence in urban and suburban schools, not l#