"With his characteristic eye for the telling tale, Hartog traces the life of a self-governing republic of boys and its enigmatic creator, Jack Robbins, from Progressive Era Chicago to Cold War era Los Angeles. Hartog’s account is as revelatory in its unexpected turns as in its deep reflection on adolescent selfhood, freedom, governance, and law. It offers a model and a critical reminder that law and legal history belong as much to the young, to wrongdoers and wronged, and to idiosyncratic figures who dare to think and live against the grain as it does to those with economic and political power."

Barbara Y. Welke, author of 'Law and the Borders of Belonging'

"Why would a man living in the midst of the anti Communism mania of the 1959s leave his self-created wealth to provide for support of children whose parents had been convicted of political crime? Hartog's curiosity about this small matter leads to virtuoso research and now this fascinating book shining a light on inventive efforts to encourage young people, prevent crime and mobilize volunteers to help. It also offers intriguing glimpses of the fledgling industries of advertising, journalism, animation and ice cream franchises - and idealism, and human kindness remote from the prosecutors, social workers, and criminal systems of mass incarceration. Nobody's Boy and His Pals is a gem!"

Martha Minow, author of 'When Should Law Forgive?'

"Hartog is a brilliant storyteller and this is stunning, prescient history writing. He raises important questions about how legal historians should address the diverse and strange lives of those women and men who are frequently neglected."

David Sugarman, Lancaster University