Volume 33, Number 11 · June 26, 1986
Eminent Edwardian
By Geoffrey Wheatcroft
The Character Factory: Baden-Powell and the Origins of the Boy Scout Movement
by Michael Rosenthal
Pantheon, 335 pp., $22.95
If they can honestly and accurately recall themselves at twelve, many middle-aged men will have happy memories of the Boy Scouts. If they were dutiful scouts, they will also remember reading Scouting for Boys, the Koran of the scouting movement written by its prophet, Lord Baden-Powell (1857–1941). A distinctive self-portrait of B-P emerges from his own pages: soldierly and salty; quirky, humorous, and kindly. But beyond that: if the young reader was more than just assiduous, he will have been struck by the odd tone of parts of Scouting for Boys, and may have found his interest in B-P's personality quicken.
Review, 3860 words
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