Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-276) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: Ax-men and typewriter-men: the BSA's full-orbed manhood -- The BSA's triumph: balancing traditional and modern manhood and authority -- Scout character: men's skills for corporate-industrial work and urban society -- Practical citizenship -- Nature, conservation, and modern manhood -- Mainstreaming white immigrants and the industrial working class in the BSA -- Rural manhood and lone scouting on the margins of a modernizing society -- The right sort of colored boy and man: African American scouting -- Epilogue: Scout manhood and citizenship in the Great Depression.
Summary:
"In this illuminating look at gender and scouting in the United States, Benjamin Rene Jordan examines how in its founding and early rise, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) integrated traditional Victorian manhood with modern, corporate-industrial values and skills. While showing how the BSA Americanized the original British Scouting program, Jordan finds that the organization's community-based activities signaled a shift in men's social norms, away from rugged agricultural individualism or martial primitivism and toward productive employment in offices and factories, stressing scientific cooperation and a pragmatic approach to the responsibilities of citizenship"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.