One afternoon, I found myself accompanying a buddy to a strip club for happy hour. He was busy with a lady, so I decided to sit at the bar and enjoy the half-priced drinks. At the time, I had just split with my wife, and was learning how few mormons were really my friend.

A young man sat next to me. He was in the same predicament that afternoon - his friend had come to spend money, but he was just there to drink. So, we started chatting, and it turns out this guy and his friend were "lost boys" - young men who were no longer welcome in the polygamist compound.

It was a nice reminder that, no matter how hard it was for me to overcome my programming and lose the bitterness that I held toward my family, friends, community and church for what they put me through, plenty of other dudes walk a lot rougher road.

Name of the place? Address? JK.
I remember reading an article about all the lost boys in St George, and how the math doesn't work in polygamist societies. All these old farts wanting younger and younger wives in a world where the man/woman ratio is always 50/50. The old guys in charge see the young men as competition, so they get kicked out and excommunicated for the smallest of infractions. Really sad.

I guess this kid's pops crossed the head man in Canada, so the dude got ex'd, and his wife was reassigned to some other dude. All the males who were old enough, and tied in any way to the bad guy got shipped out of town. At least this kid managed to get set up with another lost boy who was making money.

Have set up some organizations to help these kids. Because of the crummy schools they've attended, they lack education in certain areas but are often really skilled in construction trades and such (no surprise there).

Krakauer is the author of "Into Thin Air" about some ill-fated climbs of Mt. Everest as well as "Under the Banner of Heaven," a searing exposé of fanatic Fundamentalist Mormon violence.

He came off as really normal until expected to perform academically. He wasn't dumb by any stretch, just under educated.

For a strip club story: I was volunteered to take eight guys with varying degrees of paranoid schizophrenia to a strip club a few years ago. One of the most awkward and scary experiences of my life. I was sure one of them would do something outrageous. Happily nobody did and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Wish I could say the same for me.

I have the book "The Lost Boys" It's excellent but so sad.