Scouting for Boys

The original 'self-instructor' of the Boy Scout Movement, Scouting for Boys (1908) is probably the most influential manual for youth ever published. Yet it is an extraordinary hodge-podge of jingoist lore, tracker legend, extracts from adventure fiction, and autobiographical writing which reveals the multiple anxieties of its author and time. ''A scout must always be prepared at any moment to do his duty, and to face danger in order to help his fellow-men. ''A startling amalgam of Zulu war-cry and imperial and urban myth, of borrowed tips on health and hygiene, and object lessons in woodcraft, Robert Baden-Powell''s Scouting for Boys (1908) is the original blueprint and ''self-instructor'' of the Boy Scout Movement. One of the all-time bestsellers in the English-speaking world, this primer of ''yarns and pictures'' constitutes probably the most influential manual for youth ever published. Yet the book is at the same time a roughly composed hodge-podge of jingoist lore and tracker legend, padded with lengthy quotations from adventure fiction and Baden-Powell''s own autobiography, and seamed through with the multiple anxieties of its time: fears of degeneration, concerns about masculinity and self-restraint, invasion paranoia. Elleke Boehmer''s edition of Scouting for Boys reprints the original text and illustrations, and her fine introduction investigates a book that has been cited as an authority by militarists and pacifists, capitalists and environmentalists alike.