Lost Boys

'Grimly fascinating' Pandora Sykes

'So compelling' Financial Times

'Remarkable' Sunday Times

'Sobering' Guardian

'Brave, clear and necessary' Observer

An astonishing undercover investigation into the paranoid and misogynistic subcultures of the manosphere.

Rarely has there seemed a more confusing time to be a man. This uncertainty has spawned an array of bizarre and harmful underground subcultures, collectively known as the 'manosphere', as men search for new forms of belonging.

In Lost Boys, acclaimed journalist James Bloodworth delves into these worlds and asks: Why are so many men susceptible to the sinister beliefs these groups promote? And what can we do about their pernicious encroachment upon our social and political spheres? Along the way, he enlists in a bootcamp for 'alpha males', dissects cultural figures including Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate, and accompanies modern day Hugh Hefners as they broadcast their jet-set lifestyles to millions of followers.

Combining compulsive memoir with powerful reporting, Lost Boys is an essential guide to understanding young men and modern masculinity.

Brave, clear and necessary ... A steady, smart, sometimes agonising account of the rising influence of the manosphere -- Tom Lamont ― Observer

Bloodworth gets up close and personal, grappling with how and why ancient myths of masculinity are being resurrected ... It's this tension - between wanting to look away and the need to engage - that makes Bloodworth's book so compelling ― Financial Times

The sheer, Dickensian range of the miscreants that Bloodworth has assembled is remarkable ... This is an impressive feat of research ― Sunday Times

Bloodworth displays a sharp humour in laying bare the absurdity underpinning these men's various enterprises ... A comprehensive, important, and enjoyable read -- Sarah Al Kahly-Mills ― LA Review of Books