True Crime Time: James Renner on the Dark Side of the Boy Scouts
Schedule
Fri, 07 Mar, 2025 at 06:00 pm
UTC-06:00Location
Magic City Books | Tulsa, OK
Magic City Books is pleased to welcome investigative journalist, podcaster, and critically acclaimed author James Renner for a special in-store event on Friday March 7, 2025. James will be meeting readers and signing copies of his new book, Scout Camp: Sex, Death, and Secret Societies Inside the Boy Scouts of America, an exploration of the dark side of the Boy Scouts of America.James Renner is the host of the True Crime This Week podcast and the author of Little, Crazy Children and True Crime Addict. His latest book, Scout Camp is a deeply personal true crime memoir exploring the dark side of an American institution, its pervasive culture of sexual abuse, and the traumatic--even deadly--repercussions of its long-buried secrets.
Scout Camp will be published on February 25 and will be for sale at Magic City Books. It is also available to order online at: https://magiccitybooks.square.site/product/scout-camp/3082.
About Scout Camp
In this timely and deeply personal true crime memoir, acclaimed journalist, author, creator of the True Crime This Week podcast, and former Boy Scout James Renner, explores the dark side of an American institution, its pervasive culture of sexual abuse, and the traumatic--even deadly--repercussions of its long-buried secrets.
In the summer of 1995, at the largest Boy Scout camp in Ohio, a night of sexual violence ended with one counselor dead and another hospitalized. The death was ruled "accidental." It wouldn't be the last death associated with Seven Ranges Reservation.
James Renner, too, was a counselor at Seven Ranges that year. He was always sure there must be more to the story of Mike Klingler's death, because Renner also knew firsthand that the 900-acre camp was not the safe getaway it was portrayed to be. On Friday nights the boys were ushered into the woods for a frightening ceremony in which they learned the rules for becoming good young men--and, above all, that keeping secrets was a scout's duty. No matter how dark the secrets were.
Determined to face his demons, Renner embarks on a journey back to that tumultuous summer and exposes a clandestine society that left indelible scars on the scouts and the staff who were there. For Renner himself, it meant opening up about his twisted upbringing, his issues with trust and sexuality, and a lifetime of self-medication. The result is a deeply personal, no-holds-barred, and vitally important true crime memoir.
James Renner is an investigative journalist, podcaster, and critically acclaimed author of both nonfiction and fiction books, including True Crime Addict and The Man from Primrose Lane. Previously the host of Lake Erie's Coldest Cases on ID Discovery, he currently hosts the podcasts "The Philosophy of Crime" and "True Crime This Week." He is the Founder and Director of The Porchlight Project, a nonprofit that provides genetic genealogy for cold cases in Ohio. He lives in Akron with his wife and children and can be found online at Jamesrenner.com.
Where is it happening?
Magic City Books, 221 E. Archer St. ,Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
