Harrison High

Nowadays when people think of the 1960s youth culture, they think "American Graffitti" and "Grease", both rather shallow and semi-comic overviews of a time when America really didn't think its youth were particularly funny. Henry Gregor Felsen came closer to the realities of that era, but his best-known books centered on ownership of modified cars. You know--those "little deuce coupes" the Beach Boys sang about. But this culture in those days regarded all youth not depicted on the "Donna Reed Show", "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Leave It To Beaver" as juvenile delinquents--or at least potentially so--the difference from one kid to another was seen as merely one of degree. But this book--which later was adapted for the screen under the title "Because They're Young"--tells a pretty readable tale of a high school football player named Jim, his two teammates Buddy and Buck, his cheerleader girlfriend Ricky--and only one "hoody type"--a troubled kid named Griff who drifts toward crime because of the possible affluence and ego enrichment it can bring. And unlike much of today's fiction about youth, this story does not blur the lines between good and evil. The "good guys" and the "bad guys" are clearly identified in a way that would be seen as narrowminded today. It is clear here that--while this book explains why Griff acts as he does--the "environmental" hypothesis of criminality takes a back seat to the behavioral one. Maybe I'm a bit of a reactionary, but this book makes me nostalgic in more ways than one.