For those who feel contemporary youth work has been sold (or sold itself) down the river and capitulated to state control - through targeted action, planned interventions, recordable outcomes and the accreditation of achievement - the work of Flemish academic Filip Coussee is instructive. His recent book, A Century of Youth Work Policy (Gent Academia Press, 2008), suggests that, rather than having lost its way, youth work has historically never found its path.