Synopses & Reviews
It's spring semester at Mirador High in Southern California, and twenty-four-year-old Jeremy Iversen is going deep undercover to deliver the real deal about the dull classes and fast times of American teens today.
Trading in his suit and tie for jeans and skater shoes, Iversen posed as a senior transfer student. He took six classes five days a week, dissected a cat, got sent to detention, hung out at the mall, signed yearbooks, and graduated in cap and gown. He infiltrated the homes of his teenage friends, met their parents, and went to their parties. For one entire semester, he led the life of a modern-day high school student -- and lived to tell all about it.
Going way beyond the usual cliches of jock and nerd, the book introduces readers to a revolving cast of fascinating characters from every walk of social life: promiscuous freshmen girls, lunchtime alcoholics, evangelical Christians, perfectionist drug dealers, masochistic vampires, steroid-raging baseball stars, and one principal who will stop at nothing to make her failing school look good.
In this fast-paced expose, Jeremy Iversen blows the lid off a secret world in which the sexual revolution runs unchecked, where the use of recreational drugs is chronic, and where apathetic teachers don't even bother to teach. This Wild West wonderland, however, lives by strict unwritten rules and ultraconservative politics, creating a pressure cooker of conflict that's bound to explode. High School Confidential isn't confidential anymore.
Review
"Shows like
Laguna Beach try to expose the shocking reality of teen life, but really nothing could compare to Jeremy Iversen's experience of posing as a student.... It's a fascinating read."
-- CNN Showbiz Tonight
Review
"Iversen's mastery of story made me fall in love with every one of his classmates, and his sense of suspense and timing made me carry this book around for days....Dude. It's like, one of the best books you'll read this year."
-- Terri Schlichenmeyer, nationally syndicated columnist
Review
"[Readers] will find themselves wrapped up in the lives of [Iversen's] kids. He catches them at their very worst and their best as they rage, dream, and struggle to move on with their lives."
-- Booklist
Synopsis
It's spring semester in Southern California, and twenty-four-year-old Stanford grad Jeremy Iversen is forsaking a dreary future of New York investment banking to go on the adventure of a lifetime. With a new wardrobe and the blessing of the school principal, he transfers into Mirador High, going undercover as a seventeen-year-old surfer.
In this fast-paced exposé, Iversen quickly finds himself climbing the social ladder to the popular crowd, winning over everyone from steroid-raging athletes to shoplifting scene kids, promiscuous prom queens to evangelical Christians. Along the way, he uncovers a secret world of bomb threats and sex videotapes, wildfires and wilder parties, childish teachers and youth growing up way too fast.
But when he finds himself caught between his teenage friends and a jaded administration that will stop at nothing to make their failing school look good, he realizes he faces the hardest choice of his life.
High School Confidential is the explosive true story of a rising generation that proves you can go back again.
About the Author
Jeremy Iversen recently graduated from Stanford, where he served as vice-president of Delta Tau Delta fraternity and rush chair for the entire university. After a stint as a runway model, he spent six months undercover in high school, pretending to be a 17-year-old surfer, and wrote about the once-in-a-lifetime experience in his bestselling book High School Confidential. He is currently pursuing a career in acting, and lives in Los Angeles. Visit him online at <>
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
A Note About This Map
PART ONE
This Night
Diving In
You Make It Real
PART TWO
Popular
Collision
Give Me a Place to Stand
PART THREE
Two Weeks Go Deep
Intermezzo in D-Force Minor
O Girls, To War
PART FOUR
Accreditation
In the Magic Kingdom
Graduation
Notes