“An accessibly written and delightfully illustrated history of America’s largest and most enduring youth organization.” — Journal of American History
“In his splendid new book . . . Jordan explores how the Boy Scouts of America stepped into this realm of gender formation and forged a new sense of American masculinity for the modern age.” — American Historical Review
“Benjamin René Jordan delivers well on his central thesis, complicating previous arguments that Scouting was centrally about primitive virility and martial aggression.” — Journal of Southern History
“Jordan’s story of a transforming and adopting masculinity is compelling. His work will reward scholars of gender, of the early twentieth century, and of the ways that popular organizations managed the transition to industrial modernity.” — Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
“An extensively-researched book that should be essential reading to anyone interested in early-twentieth-century American masculinity.” — Journal of Social History
“A splendid reinterpretation of the BSA’s early years and growth.” — H-Net Reviews
“This history of scouting . . . becomes a social and cultural history of the era. Recommended.” — CHOICE
“A welcome and well-researched history of the BSA. . . [it] shows how the BSA both reflected and gave shape to major cultural anxieties, tensions, and contradictions in the first two decades of its existence. . . . Will be the definitive history of the organization for a while.” — Jay Mechling, Boyhood Studies
“An accomplished account of the complicated ideas of training for civic virtue in a modern, corporate setting. It should be essential reading for those who want to understand how the world of a century ago continues to influence our own.” — Memphis Commercial Appeal
“I have been a member of the Boy Scout movement for over 50 years and I am blessed by having been a part of it. This book shows why.” — Doc Kirby, WTBF-AM-FM, Troy, AL
