From Library Journal
Both of these titles assess the societal ethos that Victorian/Edwardian Eng land "manufactured" in its efforts to maintain imperial sanctity (and momen tum) in a rapidly changing world. Man gan's thesis is that public school team sports shaped the values required for global management. He describes many of the schools in England and the Empire which utilized the playing field to develop loyalty, self-reliance, obedi ence, and initiative in those who were charged with assuming "the white man's burden" and transmitting re sponsible behavior to the colonized populations. Though sometimes rather repetitive and superficial, his is an in teresting, informative study. Rosenthal has prepared a first-rate account of Robert Baden Powell's great invention, the Boy Scouts. He skillfully demonstrates that the organization's overriding purpose was to develop tra ditional British virtues, e.g., honor, self-sacrifice, and discipline, among so ciety's less-privileged classesvirtues that Baden-Powell considered essential for the perpetuation of England and Empire. The book is a sheer delight. Witty, probing, and perceptive, it clear ly documents the "Chief Scout's" vi sion of scouting as a universal panacea. Most libraries should consider Man gan's book; all should consider Rosen thal's. Mark R. Yerburgh, Trinity Coll . Lib., Burlington, Vt .
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
