Scan barcode
A review by scribepub
The Lost Boys: Inside Muzafer Sherif's Robbers Cave Experiment by Gina Perry
A fascinating and finely written study of one of the best-known social experiments of the twentieth century. Through archive research and interviews with participants, Gina Perry uses her investigative flair to reconstruct the context, characters, and stakes of this strange piece of history.
Darian Leader, Author of What Is Madness?
When the first punch is thrown in the opening chapter, you know you’re in for a wild ride. In The Lost Boys, academic sleuth Gina Perry investigates the back story of a real-life Lord of the Flies study of human behaviour at a summer camp. The fascinating journey — which takes us through the history of psychology, Turkey, and even American summer camps — reads more like a detective novel than a psychological history book.
Susannah Cahalan, Author of The New York Times bestseller Brian on Fire
In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry has created a meticulously-researched, skilfully crafted account of a decades-old experiment that still casts a shadow over the lives of its subjects. This is a fascinating, disturbing and utterly compelling cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific obsession.
Michael Brooks, Author of The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook
In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry returns to the terrain of morally dubious and manipulative psychological experiments.’
The Saturday Age
Fascinating … excellent.
Weekend Australian
Intriguing… Written in an engaging style, it will fascinate both academics and casual readers alike.
Canberra Weekly
Enthralling.
Australian Book Review
[An] excellent piece of non-fiction interrogating one of the most celebrated pieces of psychological research of the mid-20th century.
Herald Sun
An engrossing expose of the Robbers Cave experiment, a classic study in social psychology, was also a fine historical recreation.
Gideon Haigh, ABR’s ‘Books of the Year 2018’
A clear-eyed assessment of a significant chapter in the history of psychology and social science.
Kirkus Reviews
Perry writes about Sherif’s complicated past, why he was able to carry out the test, and how the boys banded against each other at the camp. But she also digs into the theory behind it, which feels spookily relevant now: the idea that we easily pick sides based on arbitrary circumstances, and that can lead to violence.
Outside Magazine, The Best New Books of March
[Perry’s] analysis of Sherif’s scientific process benefits from a distance, seeing revelations that Sherif and his staff were too close to see. It was enthralling and appalling at the same time.
RuthAlice Anderson, Tonstant Weader
This brilliant reexamination of a study that resonates today should interest scholars as well as undergraduate and graduate psychology students.
Library Journal
In assessing the ostensible success of the experiment and the work of Sherif, who emerges as an extremely difficult man, arrogant and conceited, Perry has done prodigious research.
Booklist
[This] long profile of him [Sherif], and description of his experiment, will likely remain unsurpassed.
Publishers Weekly
Darian Leader, Author of What Is Madness?
When the first punch is thrown in the opening chapter, you know you’re in for a wild ride. In The Lost Boys, academic sleuth Gina Perry investigates the back story of a real-life Lord of the Flies study of human behaviour at a summer camp. The fascinating journey — which takes us through the history of psychology, Turkey, and even American summer camps — reads more like a detective novel than a psychological history book.
Susannah Cahalan, Author of The New York Times bestseller Brian on Fire
In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry has created a meticulously-researched, skilfully crafted account of a decades-old experiment that still casts a shadow over the lives of its subjects. This is a fascinating, disturbing and utterly compelling cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific obsession.
Michael Brooks, Author of The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook
In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry returns to the terrain of morally dubious and manipulative psychological experiments.’
The Saturday Age
Fascinating … excellent.
Weekend Australian
Intriguing… Written in an engaging style, it will fascinate both academics and casual readers alike.
Canberra Weekly
Enthralling.
Australian Book Review
[An] excellent piece of non-fiction interrogating one of the most celebrated pieces of psychological research of the mid-20th century.
Herald Sun
An engrossing expose of the Robbers Cave experiment, a classic study in social psychology, was also a fine historical recreation.
Gideon Haigh, ABR’s ‘Books of the Year 2018’
A clear-eyed assessment of a significant chapter in the history of psychology and social science.
Kirkus Reviews
Perry writes about Sherif’s complicated past, why he was able to carry out the test, and how the boys banded against each other at the camp. But she also digs into the theory behind it, which feels spookily relevant now: the idea that we easily pick sides based on arbitrary circumstances, and that can lead to violence.
Outside Magazine, The Best New Books of March
[Perry’s] analysis of Sherif’s scientific process benefits from a distance, seeing revelations that Sherif and his staff were too close to see. It was enthralling and appalling at the same time.
RuthAlice Anderson, Tonstant Weader
This brilliant reexamination of a study that resonates today should interest scholars as well as undergraduate and graduate psychology students.
Library Journal
In assessing the ostensible success of the experiment and the work of Sherif, who emerges as an extremely difficult man, arrogant and conceited, Perry has done prodigious research.
Booklist
[This] long profile of him [Sherif], and description of his experiment, will likely remain unsurpassed.
Publishers Weekly