[.ca] The State Boys Rebellion (ISBN 074324513X)

Triumph of the Supposed Morons:
We could never have an institution today called the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feebleminded Youth. It is not just political correctness that would forbid such a name; "idiocy" and "feeblemindedness" were once thought to be real diagnosable conditions, and they are not now. The MSIFY existed, however, but even after it changed its name to the Fernald State School, it was through the 1960s still housing what officials thought were idiotic, moronic, and feebleminded young people. Sadly, huge numbers of the kids kept there (and in countless similar institutions) had no mental handicaps whatsoever. In _The State Boys Rebellion: A True Story_ (Simon and Schuster), Michael D'Antonio exposes the Fernald story, a sorry and sordid tale. The kids described here would today, it is hoped, get reliable foster homes and any special education that was necessary; at the time, they got neglect, assaults, rapes, and cruelty. Some of the boys described here forced their way out, and did fare surprisingly well, and did get their histories out in the public view, so at least in part this is a story of an inspiring victory over the system. D'Antonio has done a particularly good job at putting the Fernald story into historical context, showing Fernald as a product of the eugenics movement. The idea was that morons (a term coined as a medical diagnosis) could be segregated and prevented from breeding more morons. Among the problems was that at Fernald, plenty of the children were normal. As Fred Boyce, the main State Boy profiled here, said decades later, "Keep in mind that we didn't commit any crimes. We were just seven-year-old orphans." Boyce was of at least average intelligence; even his official record at the place said, "He is certainly not feebleminded." He was skillful at sizing up other people, and interested in science. He needed adoption, but such recommendations produced no effect. He was only released when he was nineteen. In Fernald, there was an over-reliance on IQ test scores, and once a label IQ number had been applied, it stuck. This was true even if teachers could tell just by talking to the boys that the scores were meaningless. Whatever IQ scores mean, it was true that the boys _dropped_ in their scores as they stayed in state custody, even though authorities taught that IQ was a permanent fixture. The boys were supposed to be separated from the world, but some of the world crept in, from radio and television; one of Boyce's means of learning about the outside was a crystal radio he built, using a found quartz rock for a crystal. As teenagers, they had a natural rebelliousness combined with a desire to fit in, and they gradually found that they were much more like their fellow teens on the outside than any morons. Inspired by the civil rights struggles in Little Rock, some of the boys took over one of the wards in 1957. They rioted, and some wound up in prison. The real rebellion of the state boys took place in 1995. They were undereducated, but many of them had found work and made families, although some of them did not reveal even to their wives the horrors of where they had been brought up. Many of them united to start speaking publicly about what they had endured, and brought a successful lawsuit against the state and against Quaker Oats for having used them as unwitting test subjects in nutrition experiments involving radioactive oatmeal. A researcher who interviewed the boys to help with the lawsuit put it perfectly: "These guys had their lives ruined because people where trying to do good. That may be the scariest thing about it." D'Antonio's clear, restrained, and sympathetic portrayal of a misguided institution and its captives is a fitting parable about good intentions.

Truth is stranger than fiction:
Fred Boyce and the Science Club boys suffered at the hands of the US government. However, the message of this book is far from bleak. Fred and the other boys lived useful lives after Fernald. Fred Boyce talked to hundreds of high school students via speakerphone following his lawsuit, exhorting them to act on inequities they find in society. This story has legs! This book is very well researched and written, and deserves a place on your home bookshelf.

Informative and captivating:
This book details an important part of American history, the early eugenics movement. While remaining informative, the book is engaging and interesting to read. D'Antonio skillfully weaves the stories of the State Boys together with facts about the Fernald home and other institutions around the country. The book reflects a great deal of research and effort.

An American Family ...Treated in an Un-American way.:
Finally, A Book about the way we were.. or, God forbid, the way we might still be. Mr. D,antonio,s research of our Governments,s nuclear application,s was not intended to lead him right to The Fernald State School, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, and one Mr. Frederick Boyce, But it did for some strange reason, lead him there. With the resulting introduction to Fred Boyce. From his research, Mr. D, Antonio was afforded a view that few Americans are ever afforded. Mr. D,Antonio was afforded a view of just how, our system of social welfare, and social care was doled out in the middle of the twentieth century. The shame of this True story is not soley in the past believe and practice of Eugenics, but in the past believe and practice of warehousing State kids. Warehousing them in any Environement enabled the servicing Social Worker to look like he or she has done their job. This writer still believes this practice still exists today.This Book is a compelling read and I am very gratefull to the author and I am very proud of the courage and accomplishmenst Frederick L. Boyce. (...)

A troubling story:
Michael D'Antonio's new book, "The Boys State Rebellion" is a look into the troubled life of an institution and the repercussions it had on American Society. The lives of those who were subjected to this kind of life have been immeasurably altered and most for no good reason. The book centers around the Fernald home in Massachusetts largely in the 1950s. Although girls resided at the home D'Antonio tells much more through the eyes of the boys, most notably Fred Boyce. Placed in Fernald for many different reasons these boys were labeled "morons" when most of them clearly had abilities far and above their designation. The filth and squalor in which they lived was often accompanied by physical and verbal abuse that led to an uprising in November, 1957 for which the book has been named. While the author's writing is a little wooden, he nonetheless conveys the state of life at Fernald and goes on to tell of what happened to many of these boys as they grew into adulthood. That any of them survived the horrors of Fernald is miraculous and a great testament to the courage and mettle that they exhibited.