Bringing up the Boy

Werner, Carl Avery, 1873-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.4

Word count: 96K words
Chapters: 10

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. Bringing up the Boy by Carl Avery Werner. Author: Werner, Carl Avery, 1873-. Language: English. Class: HQ: Social sciences: The family, Marriage, Sex and Gender. Release Date: Dec 3, 2017

Editor's review

This book is a work on the upbringing of boys by the early twentieth-century American author Carl Avery Werner, newly reissued as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in offering a contemporary parenting guide but in serving as a primary text for the history of education and society: readers can observe how the English-speaking world a century ago expected boys to develop in character, discipline, and path of growth, and understand how the family roles and gender ideas of the time shaped methods of upbringing. The argument bears clear marks of its era, and some views stand at a distance from today's child psychology and ideals of gender equality—which is precisely why it is better suited to comparative reading. Written in English and moderate in length, it suits readers interested in the history of education, family history, or American social and cultural history who wish to read in a comparative perspective, and also serves as a choice for extensive English reading that introduces an older argumentative style.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying the history of education, family history, or American social and cultural history
Readers interested in early twentieth-century gender ideas and discourses on child-rearing
Intermediate to advanced English learners who wish to use the original English text for extensive reading practice
Practitioners in children's education who want to understand historical views on upbringing

Not a good fit for

Parents looking for modern parenting methods they can apply directly
Beginners whose English reading ability is not yet sufficient for an older argumentative style
Readers expecting systematic psychological argumentation or empirical research

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and the opening of each chapter to grasp the main issues the book discusses on raising boys.
Mark passages that clearly conflict with contemporary views as you read, forming your own comparative notes.
Read alongside materials on early twentieth-century American social history to deepen understanding of the context.
For the original English edition, read one or two sections a day; when encountering old-fashioned expressions, read through first and look them up afterward.

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.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for use as a modern parenting guide?

No. The book was written in the early twentieth century, and its views on upbringing are rooted in the gender roles and social structure of that time, showing a clear gap from today's child development research and ideals of egalitarian education. Its value lies in historical documentation and the comparison of ideas, not in providing directly applicable parenting solutions; readers should read it with a critical eye.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

This is an original English work in an earlier expository prose style, with long sentences and old-fashioned vocabulary. It is better suited to readers with intermediate to advanced English reading ability who can use a dictionary to handle old-fashioned expressions; beginners are advised to start with introductory materials or a parallel translation before attempting the original.

Is the source of this book's electronic edition reliable?

This book was compiled and released by Project Gutenberg, which has long provided free electronic texts of public-domain works, making the source fairly reliable. However, the electronic edition is a transcription of the original text without modern notes or an introduction; readers who need background explanation should supplement it with relevant historical materials themselves.

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About the author

Werner, Carl Avery, 1873- Author

Carl Avery Werner (1873-) is an author about whom relatively limited biographical information is available. Only one of his works is currently held in the collection, Bringing up the Boy. Judging from the title, the book likely belongs to the genre of family education or child-rearing, focusing on methods of raising boys and cultivating character during their growth. Because public information is limited, Werner's nationality, professional identity, educational background, and other writings remain difficult to ascertain, and the available material is not enough to sketch a complete biography. In the work currently visible, his writing appears to center on practical, everyday questions of upbringing and to address parent readers, while his style and influence await further documentation.