Bless the Beasts and Children‎

Although Bless the Beasts and Children, published in 1970, touches upon many ‎themes that transcend time and place, it also speaks to many particular elements of American ‎society in the late 1960s. A time of great social upheaval, the 1960s provided a transitional period in ‎American history. Author Glendon Swarthout draws a parallel between the country's period of ‎transition and the Bedwetters' own personal transformations from boys to men, and their negotiation ‎of new challenges and questions. Written in the midst of the Vietnam War, the aftermath of several ‎political assassinations, and in an environment in which youth culture fundamentally challenged ‎societal assumptions, this novel speaks to the ideological movements of the period as well as to the ‎popular culture that reflected these societal struggles. Despite the idealistic nature of the ‎Bedwetters' mission, the tone of cynicism that runs throughout the novel echoes the larger society's ‎disillusionment during a time of a disheartening war and domestic conflict—racial, generational, ‎and sexual.‎

Elements of popular culture appear throughout the novel. The radios that accompany the Bedwetters ‎during their mission constantly blare the latest hits in Motown and rock music. Westerns, with their ‎cowboy heroics, in part provide the appeal of the adventure for the boys. On one night in particular, ‎the Bedwetters escape to the local drive-in to see The Professionals. Swarthout does not select this ‎film by accident; it has relevance to the boys' struggles, as it recounts the story of four misfit ‎cowboys crossing the desert on a doomed mission to free a kidnapped woman. Allusions to ‎television programs and to hippies also reflect the boys' awareness of the surrounding culture.‎

In addition, Swarthout speaks to the growing influence of environmentalism and animal rights ‎during this time in the United States. The buffalo killings Swarthout depicts in this novel truly ‎happened. The publication of this novel resulted in an outcry of public support to end the shootings, ‎and the press responded with several articles. The government altered its methods slightly, but did ‎not terminate the killing. Swarthout also demonstrates his appreciation for the natural world through ‎his descriptions of the Arizona landscape. Environmentalism became a very powerful movement in ‎the late 1960s, with the cultural trend to "get back to the land" and to embrace the natural world.‎

Glendon Swarthout's own son attended Hidden Valley Ranch for Boys, a camp for affluent boys ‎that provided the basis for the author's depiction of the Box Canyon Boys Camp. Both a camper and ‎a counselor at Hidden Valley Ranch, Miles Swarthout recounted his experiences to his father. ‎Recognizing the power of his experiences and their adaptability to a literary context, Swarthout ‎began to reconstruct and elaborate upon what his son had told him. He even dedicated the novel to ‎his son, writing, "For Miles, who was there, and told me." Swarthout also completed lengthy ‎research on the psychological problems of adolescent boys to create the main characters, each of ‎whom has a distinct psychological problem. Swarthout pays particular attention to these problems ‎in his italicized passages that elaborate on the characters' backgrounds.‎

William Golding's “Lord of the Flies”, written in 1954, provides the most apparent literary ‎comparison to Bless the Beasts and Children. However, it differs from it in essential ways, and ‎provides more of a response than an agreement with Golding's conceptions of man and beast. ‎Swarthout himself asserted, "This book has the idea that people are not bestial in nature. It is just ‎the opposite of Lord of the Flies. The idea is, if you isolate boys with the right combination of ‎circumstances, they will do great things. So much is now anti-hero. This is a 'yes' book." (fonte. ‎‎Sparknotes)