The Challenge of the Country: A Study of Country Life Opportunity

Fiske, George Walter, 1872-1945Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
416K words
Chapters
42

Tags

English Originals Social Sciences Country LifeRural DevelopmentEducation EquityOpportunity AnalysisSocial ObservationCommunity BuildingAmerican SocietyLife WisdomPractical GuideFieldwork

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Challenge of the Country: A Study of Country Life Opportunity by FiskeAuthor: Fiske, George Walter, 1872-1945,Language: English, Class: HT: Social sciences: Communities, Classes, Races, Release Date: Jun 9, 2010

Editor's review

The Challenge of the Country: A Study of Country Life Opportunity is a study of rural life opportunities by George Walter Fiske (1872–1945). Project Gutenberg classifies it under social sciences (HT, covering community, class, and groups). The words "Challenge" and "Opportunity" in the title capture the book's central concern: the countryside is not merely an object of sympathy but a site with the potential for social reconstruction. Starting from the realities of rural life, the author discusses the connections among education, community organization, and individual development, bearing the imprint of early twentieth-century American social reform thought. Its value today lies not in offering up-to-date data but in presenting an approach that weighs rural problems within the social structure, making it suitable for reading alongside the historical development of rural sociology and community studies. It is suited to readers interested in the history of social thought, rural issues, and public-domain social science literature, and also works as light extensive reading material in English social science originals.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Begin by browsing the table of contents and introduction to grasp the author's problem framework, then select chapters by theme.
  2. While reading, mark the author's specific arguments about rural opportunity, distinguishing the historical context from transferable analytical perspectives.
  3. Read alongside a contemporary introduction to rural sociology to observe the continuity and change in the underlying concerns.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42

FAQ

Which country's countryside does this book discuss? The author, Fiske, was an American scholar, and the work carries the background of early twentieth-century American social reform; its subject is mainly American rural life of that time. Readers should note its historical context and should not apply it directly to other regions.
Do the book's data still have reference value today? As an early study, its specific data are outdated and should not be treated as a contemporary basis. What is more valuable is the way the author poses questions and the argumentative framework, which can be understood in comparison with the tradition of rural research in the history of sociology.
How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for self-study? It is expository social science prose, with fairly formal but not overly difficult sentence structures. Readers with university-level English reading ability can study it on their own; it is advisable to read the introduction and conclusion first before moving on to specific chapters, and to take notes to organize the arguments.
Why do the recommendations not mention the author's biography? The available materials provide only the name and birth and death years, without detailed life experience. To avoid fabrication, the recommendations do not expand on the author's biography and offer reading advice only based on confirmable information about the title, classification, and theme.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Fiske, George Walter, 1872-1945 Author · American · 1872–1945

George Walter Fiske (1872–1945) was an American Congregational minister and religious educator. Public information about his life and education is limited. One work by him is held in this collection, The Challenge of the Country: A Study of Country Life Opportunity. Judging from its title and subject, the book addresses the opportunities and difficulties of rural life, with a religious and ethical concern, discussing responsibility and spiritual life in rural society for pastors and general readers. His writing reflects his concerns as a minister and religious educator: plain in language, problem-oriented, and focused on practical exhortation rather than abstract speculation. On the available evidence Fiske published little, and his influence was confined largely to readers interested in religion and rural life; his work also offers a sidelight on early twentieth-century American rural society and religious ethical discourse.