Michael Wessells is an experienced child protection practitioner with Christian Children's Fund and Professor at Columbia University and Randolph-Macon College.
Given the recent bestselling memoir of a child soldier, Wessells's
empirically driven book is a timely contribution of psychological
insight that debunks gloomy notions of child soldiers as damaged
goods beyond repair. Wessells's optimism is buoyed with accounts of
former child soldiers successfully reintegrated into civilian life.
He links the need to protect children in conflict to the foundation
of peaceful societies...The discussion on the difficulty of
separating victims from perpetrators underlines Wessels's main
point that children soldiers are the result of adult exploitation
of children...This is an important book for students of all levels
interested in children's rights and post-conflict reconstruction,
and serves as a guide to practitioners working in this area.--David
K. Androff"Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare"
(06/01/2007)
In the past few years, the body of literature devoted to the use of
child soldiers--political and security analyses, sociological
explorations, case studies of specific conflicts--has been growing.
But largely unheard in these books are the voices of the child
soldiers themselves...[Michael Wessells] now fills that gap in the
literature with an admirable work based not just on his own
extensive research but on interviews with hundreds of former child
soldiers.--J. Peter Pham"Wilson Quarterly" (04/01/2007)
Provides a thorough introduction to the myriad problems and
possibilities associated with an estimated 300,000 children who
participate in military units on almost every continent.--P. G.
Conway"Choice" (05/01/2007)
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