It’s in the news every single day. Our kids are under attack from the forces of the left and the woke, especially those without children of their own, so they intend on taking ours. Authors and mothers Bethany Mandel and Karol Markowicz are on to them, and have written a brand new book, “Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence And Indoctrinating A Generation” that details what we have all been seeing for the past several years.

This book, as Mandel and Markowicz tell us, almost didn’t see the light of day. Why? Publishers were getting scared off after the leftist blowback over Abigail Shrier’s book, “Irreversible Damage.”

It was amid this controversy in 2021 that we were attempting to sell our book project, this book you’re holding, to a publisher. We had a top literary agent and enthusiasm among some top editors we pitched the idea to. After a half dozen meetings and enough interested parties, it was decided we’d go to auction in order to generate a bidding war for our project. And then, on the day of the auction, every single interested party pulled out. The reason we were given? Abigail Shrier. No, she’s not to blame. But the stifling of her work was. The fear generated by her cancellation was enough to make the bosses at publishing companies want to put the brakes on our book. They simply couldn’t risk paying us an advance to commission a project they wouldn’t be *allowed* to sell (emphasis in the original). If they couldn’t put it on Amazon on in bookstores, it was dead in the water.” (Chapter 6, The Transgender Crusade, pages 169-170)

Fortunately, The Daily Wire, under their DW Books imprint, stepped forward and took the book, which was officially released on March 7, 2023.

.@bethanyshondark on Stolen Youth: "We want to prepare parents, no matter what perspective they're coming from–if they're home schoolers like me, or send their kids out to public or private school like @karol does–we're giving you the tools to take all of this on." pic.twitter.com/5R7PC1BCBS

— DW Books (@DailyWireBooks) March 8, 2023

The entire purpose of “Stolen Youth” is to light a fire under parents. When your children are at stake, there is no time to be apathetic, or simply assume that the kids are all right. With each chapter, each personal story, and each reminder, the authors point out just how endangered the innocence of children has become. Everyone wants a piece of the kids, either to use them as scientific guinea pigs, or to brainwash them for pet political causes.

The book starts off with a solid smack to the face in recalling the worst days of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown for parents – watching schools shut down and our children’s educations be used as political tools. And yet, that moment ended up opening the eyes of parents nationwide. As Karol Markowicz writes in chapter two, “Wokeness In The Time Of Pandemic,” countless institutions failed America’s children across the board. The teachers’ unions demanded concessions and ended up getting them directly from the CDC when it came to writing school-reopening guidelines. The CDC placed arbitrary constraints on children at schools, making them wear masks and eat outdoors. The American Academy of Pediatrics no longer cared about things like “limiting screen time.” Parents cannot forget the depths of our anguish and despair over what was taken from our kids during that dark period of time. Both authors address the educational angle from differing perspectives – Mandel homeschools, Markowicz sends her children to public schools, but talks about how she moved states (from New York to Florida) to give them the in-person education they needed – and they leave it to the reader and the parent to decide what will work best for their children. But their driving goal is to alert the parents to what has already happened to education. If you don’t think it has happened to your child’s school, you are dead wrong. Whether you decide to fight it from within or from without, this battle must be fought.

As the book addresses education and entertainment and social media, there is an acknowledgement that by “going Galt,” a lot of things can be avoided. But one thing that cannot be avoided is pediatric medical care. And as the book points out, woke ideology has come for your child’s pediatrician, therapist, and mental health professionals.

.@bethanyshondark to @benshapiro on the biggest threat to kids right now:

"The scariest sort of infestation of woke ideology is within pediatric care…mental health care. It's very hard to find a pediatrician or a mental health professional who doesn't subscribe to this." pic.twitter.com/MVoUbsmGZ6

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) March 8, 2023

As Bethany Mandel writes:

Throughout the mental and physical health establishment, there has been a takeover of woke ideology, from schools to training programs to workplaces. In many situations, it’s possible for parents to opt out of how woke ideology is trying to creep into their children’s lives; however, in the field of healthcare, it is impossible. We need doctors, psychiatrists, nurses, and therapists; we need them to be trustworthy in their ideology (not indoctrinating our children) but also just downright *competent,* and the prioritization of woke ideology comes at a cost: their ability to improve our health. (emphasis in the original) Starting in medical school and working as a pediatrician, adhering to woke orthodoxy has become a distraction from what should be the only objective of medical providers: professional exellence. Medical schools, professional conferences, and even professional organizations shape the way care is provided, and when wokeness infects these institutions, at best, the quality of instruction and care is impacted, and at worst, patients are endangered.” (Chapter 5, The Peril Of Woke Medicine, pages 135-136)

I could sit and blockquote the book all day long, but I will simply encourage you to get a copy and read it instead. With detailed footnotes and chapters that read quickly and easily, punctuated by personal and heart-wrenching stories by both authors (who trade off sections and chapters, with the author of each one indicated in the table of contents), Mandel and Markowicz paint a bleak picture that will not be unfamiliar to parents who have been watching society deteriorate around our children, attempting to drag them down into the black hole of woke, broken and dependent on institutions and government to make everything “safe” and “equitable.” The authors give parents ideas and tools, but the whole point of the book is that you can’t fight a war if you don’t know the battle exists. “Stolen Youth” is the proof that the war for our children is on. There is hope, but parents must take up the fight.

A full interview with the authors can be watched here:

Do I recommend this book? Yes, wholeheartedly. If you have children or grandchildren, “Stolen Youth” is a must-read. Could the authors have written a full sequel already, in the interval between final editing and when this book was released? Sadly, yes. The woke activists are like a Terminator – they will not stop, they cannot be reasoned with. They only understand defeat, and even then they will regroup and try again. The goal of “Stolen Youth” is to show parents that they are not alone in the fight – but that they HAVE to fight.

Aren’t our kids worth it?

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click