AN EMPIRE OF YOUTH: AMERICAN BOY SCOUTS IN THE WORLD

[skeptic]

This article, "AN EMPIRE OF YOUTH: AMERICAN BOY SCOUTS IN THE WORLD", 1910-1960 by Mischa Honeck of the GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE is really a good piece and gives a truly good idea of how part of the rest of the world sees us. It was published in 2010.

 

http://www.ghi-dc.org/files/publications/bulletin/bu052/bu52_095.pdf

[qwazse]

Thanks. An interesting read indeed!

[Kahuna]

Very interesting analysis. Thanks for posting it. I particularly was interested in the discussion of the influence of boys on the Movement.

[Scouter99]

Ehhhhh, I was really enticed, but I didn't feel like when he got down to it that he really demonstrated his point, just talked about it. His only well-examined examples of youth initiatives (sign language, for example) don't support his thesis (that youth had a firm hand in shaping the movement) because they show the exact opposite in their fizzling-out.

 

I think he also overstates the impact that world jambos had on the American movement. The immediate thought is that only a tiny fraction of youth attended, and when he gets around to that point he simply dismisses it rather than addressing it.