Now Announcing: OUR BOYS

An update on my new book project ...

Hi Readers,

This post has been a long time coming!

I first began this Substack newsletter back in September 2022, after a tough + important conversation with my literary agent. We’d been working together on a book proposal, or, more truthfully, a series of book proposals and ideas for nearly 3 years at point, of course derailed in our process by a global pandemic.

As most authors do, I had cycled through a variety of seemingly endless ideas, at one point even proposing a new book with a brilliant coauthor and researcher in public health - until multiple agents told of us we needed to separate and write our own books instead!

Finally, by Spring 2022, I’d arrived at a pristine proposal — which didn’t end up being sold to any publisher. In the meandering and sometimes-uncertain world of publishing, that’s a common occurrence, I’ve learned. And that proposal still has legs as I write this. BUT - I’ve put it aside in recent months to work on a new book project instead, one which has turned out to be the exact book I believe I was meant to write after my first book, Red State Christians.

I am so excited to share with you today my new, forthcoming book project, OUR BOYS: The Radicalization of Young White Christian Men and What To Do About it.

Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly had to say about the book deal last month:

Acquiring editor Lisa Kloskin at Broadleaf Books bought world rights from Sarah Smith at David Black Literary Agency to Our Boys: The Radicalization of Young White Christian Men and What To Do About It by Angela Denker (Red State Christians). Drawing on her experience reporting nationally on white nationalism and toxic masculinity, Denker, who is a mother of two boys, uses interviews with pastors, parents, and others to examine ways young white men are being radicalized. Publication is slated for spring 2025.

I waited a long time to read that announcement. A representative from 1517 Media (and a friend and neighbor of mine, Dawn Rundman), first came to me with the general idea for OUR BOYS in fall of 2022. She had initially conceived of it as a very short book, almost more of a manual, intended specifically for use in congregations. I thought hard about that idea, prayed about it, talked to other writers, editors, pastors, fellow moms about it, too. In nearly all of those conversations, people would turn to me - and their voice would grow quiet. Then, they’d tell me about boys and young men in their own lives, who they loved and worried about and wanted to support, but they weren’t always sure how. These conversations were hushed because it’s hard to know how to talk about the challenges facing young, white Christian men and boys without acknowledging the way their challenges often threaten the rest of us, especially women, people of color, and other marginalized groups. And then it was hard not to talk about the effects of those challenges: the hatred and violence often caused and exacerbated by young, white Christian men - without reiterating and acknowledging our own deep love and compassion for the young, white Christian men in our own lives.

As I continued to have these conversations, talking as well to young, white Christian men who had stepped away from far-right movements or even white supremacist groups - I began to see powerfully how needed this book really was.

Even as I had desperately wanted to take some steps away from religion and politics, from being known as that person who writes about right-wing Christianity even as I have spent most of my life in right-of-center churches - I could sense God calling me again deeper into this work, to the places that often felt most like home to me, like the rural Midwest and its churches - and its boys and young men.

It goes without saying that, much like Red State Christians, OUR BOYS too holds a place in my heart that is deeply personal. After all, I am a mom of two white, Christian boys. And I am married to a white Christian man. This is a world I know and love. The need for a sympathetic yet truthful study of what’s happening for “our boys” is great.

As I continued to consider the initial book idea from 1517 Media, I invited Dawn to sit down and have a further conversation about the idea. While we’d initially planned to meet at a local restaurant, it ended up being closed, and so we sat together at my kitchen table. I told her that I’d become convinced that this was a project I should undertake. And at the same time, I told her I was concerned about the book’s initial planned length and distribution. As many of you may have learned in reading

I'm Listening

, I’m not exactly a person who goes into things halfway. When I choose to do something, I dive in with everything I have.

I also knew, through my conversations with people outside the Church, that there was a deep hunger for this book that went beyond people who were a part of congregations. I was concerned that the initial distribution plan would leave out a lot of interested readers and parties who were hungry to learn more.

Graciously, Dawn concurred with my ideas, and she suggested that she bring the book to 1517’s trade publishing arm, Broadleaf Books, the successor to Fortress Press, which had published the first edition of Red State Christians (Broadleaf Books had published the most-recent edition).

Soon after this, I heard that Broadleaf was indeed very interested in OUR BOYS. The editor who I’d worked with on the 2022 edition of Red State Christians, Lisa Kloskin, would be my editor for this project. She asked me to send along a short-form book proposal, with an annotated table of contents, which I set about working on feverishly in the middle of the night, starting with a 3 a.m. entry in the Notes portion of my phone.

I share all of these details especially for my friends reading this newsletter who are writers and journalists as well. Often, this is exactly how book deals are made - in unexpected and surprising and also delightful ways. With my agent, Sarah Smith, on maternity leave despite guiding so much of my work the past few years, Broadleaf received my proposal gladly and eventually made an offer. With the help of other agents at the David Black Agency, including David Black himself, and with Sarah stepping in to make sure everything was in order before I signed the contract, plus the dogged persistence and professionalism of David’s assistant, Anna Zinchuk, a somewhat lengthy but not at all contentious negotiation process ended in mid-August.

After literally years of madly refreshing my email, and countless nights spend wondering if I would ever be able to write a second book, I finally received the negotiated contract on a day when I had no cell service at all, while I was whitewater rafting with my family in Glacier National Park.

Isn’t it uncanny that all the exciting things always seem to happen all at once, after months and even years of anxiety interspersed with monotony? Is that just me?

I eventually signed that contract a few days later, looking out the same back window at home where I write to you today.

I’m so grateful to be working again with Broadleaf, especially given its proximity to my Minneapolis home, its publishing of SO MANY really important books in the past few years, and authors I look up to - like

The SWAJ Good News

Brandan Robertson

Anna Woofenden

David Dark

Emmy Kegler

Lyndsey Medford

rev/awo lenny duncan

Alyssa Wilkinson

Kelley Nikondeha

Emily Joy Allison

Kaya Oakes

D.L. Mayfield

Chris Stedman

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

David Zahl

Katey Zeh

Jon M. Sweeney

Rozella Haydée White

Mihee Kim-Kort

— and so many more people I can’t tag on Substack …

Of course, given that this book is heavily dependent on research and a few reporting trips, once I signed the contract - that meant work would have to begin in earnest. Which has occupied much of my time and energy since mid-August! Again, I began plotting research travel and laying out chapters in more detail almost immediately, with more middle-of-the-night Notes entries on my phone begun at 3 a.m. in a nondescript hotel room in Bismarck, N.D., en route back to Minneapolis from Montana.

My manuscript deadline is at the end of February, after which we’ll spend the next year or so editing and promoting and selling the book. (I will ABSOLUTELY let you all know as soon as it’s available for pre-order!) Publishing can feel like a really obscure process, so part of what I want to share with all of you in the months ahead is to make it a little more transparent, something that would have really helped me before writing Red State Christians. I learned so much in that process, so much so that I feel like I’ve gone from a starry-eyed, naive rookie to a bit of a jaded, grizzled old veteran author (though, HAHA, I know there is still much more that I have to learn).

Since mid-August, I’ve been feverishly writing and conducting interviews. I’ve traveled to New York City, where Sarah and I were able to finally meet in person and celebrate over lunch in SoHo. I’ve traveled to rural Minnesota, where I spent an October day with pastors, teenagers, seniors, and military veterans, and even visited the city where my grandma grew up, just a few miles from the Minnesota city where a white supremacist group has purchased a former Lutheran church building and converted it into a space to spread hate (which they claim is just a celebration of the same German and Scandinavian roots that run through my own Lutheran blood).

I spent four days in South Carolina, where I spoke with cadets at the Citadel, paid my respects at Mother Emanuel AME Church, and drove two hours inland to Columbia, to visit the Lutheran congregation where a mass shooter once worshipped.

Also during this time, I’ve been conducting several interviews closer to home, via Zoom or within driving distance of Minneapolis. I’m reading like a maniac, checking out reams of books at the library, requesting manuscripts and research copies from authors I admire (THANK YOU!) and bookmarking news articles and Substacks and social media posts and YouTube videos, all of which daily and in some way address the current state of American masculinity and what’s going on with OUR BOYS.

And in the midst of all this, I’ve been a mom and a wife and an occasional fill-in pastor and speaker/activist against the power of Christian Nationalism. I’ve watched as some of the trends I’m reading out pop up in the YouTube algorithm watched by my own sons. I’ve visited classes in our local schools, and spent time watching lots of young boys play lots of sports. I’ve seen friendships develop and social skills and puberty merge.

True to form, I keep watching and listening to it all - and trying to find ways to make sense of it in writing, hopefully with the help of God.

The work and writing is ongoing. I’m going to take a little break from book writing over the next few days, but I have a chapter planned to write about education and schools before the end of this month. Then, after Christmas, I’ll travel to Phoenix to meet with several people working to help Christian young men and boys find their ways out of destructive groups and movements.

Through it all, I remain so thankful and grateful for the community we share here on Substack. Writing here is a bit like an engine, which keeps rumbling and sustaining me as I work on this new book - and hopefully more and more books to come. I’m thankful you’ve come along with me on this new schedule, which has included slightly fewer News and general posts, at least in this time where I’m writing so much for the new book.

Do look ahead for more book updates to come, in the midst of our regularly scheduled News and Sunday Stretch posts - and more general reflections like the one I shared last month about the children of America, and Israel, and Gaza:

To wrap up this month, I’ll share a collection below of photos representing the OUR BOYS journey thus far:

THANK YOU for your support!

P.S. …

A Few Notes:

First, a huge THANK YOU to all subscribers. I get a little email notification every time someone signs up, and every time I get one, I feel joyful and honored that you want to spend part of your day with this community. I mean it when I say: “I’m listening,” to you as well, and please don’t hesitate to share with me your thoughts + ideas for what you’d like to read in this space.

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THANK YOU for your support. If you’re not a paid subscriber, please consider becoming one.

On free vs. paid-subscriber posts only: My plan right now is that the Friday + Sunday posts, focusing on news + spirituality, in that order, are available for subscribers only (I am going to continue sharing a sample, with a line where the paywall cuts off for our paid subscriber community). My plan is that the Tuesday blog-style posts will always be free, to enable as much access as possible, while creating a smaller and more intimate experience for paid subscribers, who are also able to comment and share in community in fuller ways.

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