11 Jan 2012
The Scouting Party: Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivisim and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America
Author: admin | Filed under: Accessories For ScoutsThe Scouting Party: Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivisim and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America
Critical Praise for The Scouting Party ’’My cup-runneth-over with admiration for Scott and Murphy’s The Scouting Party. The amount of primary research conducted by the authors is deeply impressive. But, even more importantly, they remind us that Boy Scouts has been a whooping one hundred year success. Consider this scholarly book a gift to America.’’ --Douglas Brinkley, author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
’'Be Prepared! David C. Scott and Brendan Murphy have unsheathed their machetes and blazed a trail through the thickets of the fierce (and strangely delicate) masculine ideals that created the Boy Scouts. The story, with its subtexts of Anglo-Saxon superiority, chivalry, clean living, and military preparedness, explains much about the rough-rider ethos of American life in the early twentieth century. And for their handling of the colossal egos at the center of the story, the authors deserve merit badges in humor and fair play’’ --Patricia O'Toole, author of When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt after the White House and The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends
’’The Scouting Party is part history, part detective narrative as it uncovers and catalogues in rich detail the jealousies, intrigues, and earnest efforts of the men who created the Boy Scouts. Through careful research and vivid descriptions, Scott and Murphy have told a story that is fundamentally and uniquely American.’’ --Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
Set in the Progressive Era so dominated by President Theodore Roosevelt, The Scouting Party tells the story of the strong-minded and at times conflicting individuals, including Roosevelt, who shaped the Boy Scouts of America as it was founded a century ago in 1910 and took shape within a few years.
The Scouting Party examines in particular the role of British-Canadian naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton, whose trailblazing Woodcraft Indians strongly influenced the British founder of Scouting, General Robert Baden-Powell. Seton became the intellectual mainspring of the Boy Scouts of America in its formative years. But BSA organizers preferred Baden-Powell’s more conventional model to Seton’s vision of a youth movement based on the culture and values of the American Indian.Seton, well known to Americans for his best-selling book, Wild Animals I Have Known, and his vivid lectures on wildlife, found himself increasingly at odds with BSA management between 1910 and 1915 over issues of organizational philosophy.
He also clashed frequently with Daniel C. Beard, an illustrator for Mark Twain and founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone, a rival to Seton’s Indians, over precedence in the field. Seton and Beard both wrangled with BSA Executive Secretary James E. West, who arbitrated their frequent disagreements while keeping BSA solvent as the organization rapidly expanded.
The exuberant personality of U.S. senior statesman Theodore Roosevelt looms large throughout The Scouting Party as an influential early patron – and at times critic – of BSA as it embraced pacifism in the initial years of the First World War. Upon U.S. entry into the conflict in 1917, however, BSA threw itself behind the war effort, in the process becoming a quintessential American institution.In relating the personal interactions that shaped BSA in its early years, The Scouting Party also provokes reflection on the path American Scouting might have taken if it had embraced fully Seton’s notions of harmony with nature as an important factor in the development of human potential.
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Tags: America, making, Party, Pioneering, Preparedness, Preservation, Progressivisim, Scouting, Scouts
3 Responses to “The Scouting Party: Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivisim and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America”
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January 11th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
A Compelling, Fascinating History,
I have spent some memorable hours reading an advance copy of David C. Scott and Brendan Murphy’s new book The Scouting Party; a thoroughly researched, unflinching account of the founding and first decade of the BSA focused on the lives of Earnest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell and Daniel Carter Beard. To my knowledge no one has so thoroughly analyzed the events and personalities involved in the founding of the BSA.
Histories of the BSA’s early years are typically encapsulations that may mention the differences between Seton, Beard and Baden-Powell in passing but The Scouting Party takes these matters up in incredible detail mappings out the troubled relationships of these three men through their letters and writings.
Rather than legend or hagiography this account is a work of careful reportage leading to a deeper understanding of the resilient and vital ideas created in this maelstrom of personalities.The result is is an inspiring account of ideas too big for any one man’s work. Despite their deep animosities for one another Seton, Powell and Beard ultimately created a remarkable organization. Clearly such an expansive vision would never have been realized without this dynamic tension.
The calculating hand of our first National Scout Executive, James West, and the somewhat mercenary machinations of publisher William D. Boyce weave through the narrative; two men who were crucial in bringing the work of far more visionary men to a practical reality.
We learn that Seton first envisioned the key concepts central to the basis of Scouting, Baden-Powell’s disciplined pragmatism was vital in bringing Seton’s somewhat woolly, inaccessible vision, to reality and Beard’s contributions were important to popularizing the movement in its formative years.
Each of these wildly divergent personalities were all key in forming the BSA as we know it. Having a measured, scholarly look at them in their own words as they forged this organization is incredibly valuable to our collective future. As we continue work to bring the promises of Scouting to reality we will encounter similar conflicts of style, personality and ideas. We can overcome these challenges and continue to weave together a vital, relevant, movement that answers the needs of the future while remaining firmly rooted in the vision of its creation.
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|January 11th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
The Scouting Party,
The Scouting Party
By David C. Scott & Brendan Murphy
Red Honor Press
2010
Reviewed by Angie Mangino
Rating: 5 stars
Everyone knows the Boy Scouts of America, and most know someone who was, or who are or have been, personally involved in the Scouting program as it celebrates its centennial in 2010. Some may know of scouting in England first and might even know the name Robert Baden-Powell associated with it. Even more may know of scouting begun in America credited to William Boyce. Yet how many people actually know all the facts and all the people behind its origins?
The Scouting Party is an excellent historical compilation of the facts, people, and story behind the beginnings of Scouting. Many divergent personalities played a crucial role in the controversial formation of the Boy Scouts of America.
This book, however, is far from a drab history text. While it gives testament to the intensive research of its authors, the presentation is a very human story, which is what this reviewer feels gives it its strength. The book begins in its introduction in September 1910 at the Waldorf-Astoria on Fifth Avenue in New York where the newly established BSA was fighting to be the sole scouting organization in the United States. From there each chapter takes the reader back to the individuals involved, developing the story into a more fully rounded understanding of each of the protagonists.
Black and white photographs show images from the early 1900′s of Ernest Thompson Seton, Robert Baden-Powell, Dan Beard, President Theodore Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill, Pawnee Bill, Buffalo Jones, James West, William Boyce, and more, bringing the reader back 100 years to witness the personalities behind both the inspiration and conflicts in the formation of Scouting in the United States.
Angie Mangino currently works as a freelance writer and book reviewer. [...]
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|January 11th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
As fascinating as it is informative to read,
The Scouting Party: Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivism and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America is a close historical study of the creation and the early years of the Boy Scouts of America. Formed in 1910, during the midst of the Progressive Era, the BSA was strongly influenced by British-Canadian naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton, whose experiences with the Woodcraft Indians left him with a vision of instilling positive values in America’s youth based on the Native American culture. Seton’s ideas were supplanted by more a more conventional perspective in the Scouting model of British founder General Robert Baden-Powell. In the years between 1910 and 1915, Seton and the management of BSA were increasingly at odds over the direction of the movement – he was also at odds of Daniel C. Beard, founder of the “Sons of Daniel Boone”, and BSA executive secretary James E. West. Theodore Roosevelt was also strongly involved in the unfolding drama, as a crucial early patron and sometimes critic of the growing movement. The Scouting Party is as much a tangled web of conflicting visions as it is the early history of an American cultural institution, and is as fascinating as it is informative to read. Highly recommended.
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