Scout Camp: Sex, Death, and Secret Societies Inside the Boy Scouts of America

In this timely and deeply personal true crime memoir, acclaimed journalist and author James Renner explores the dark side of an American institution and the traumatic—even deadly—repercussions of long-buried secrets.

In the summer of 1995, at the largest Boy Scout camp in Ohio, a night of 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 was a counselor at Seven Ranges that year. He knew firsthand that the 900-acre camp was not the safe getaway it was portrayed to be. His experiences there taught him many life lessons.  One of them was that keeping secrets was a Scout’s duty. No matter how dark the secrets.

Renner takes readers on a journey back to that tumultuous summer and exposes a clandestine society that left indelible scars on the Scouts and the staff. For Renner, it meant opening up about his twisted upbringing, his issues with trust and sexuality, and a lifetime of self-medicating. The result is a no-holds-barred, vitally important true crime memoir.