Scouting for Girls

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell of GilwellProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 321K words
Chapters: 33

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.Scouting for Girls by Baden-Powell of GilwellAuthor: Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron, 1857-1941,Language: English, Class: HS: Social sciences: Societies: secret, benevolent, etc., Release Date: Jul 5, 2016

Editor's review

Scouting for Girls is a public-domain English work by Robert Baden-Powell (Baden-Powell of Gilwell) on Girl Scout training, published by Project Gutenberg and classified under social sciences: societies and organizations. The book is consistent with the Scout movement ideals the author promoted, covering training content, organizational methods, and character development for Girl Scouts, and is a primary source for understanding the early Girl Scout movement as it originally was. Its value lies not in literary merit but in presenting the ideas and practices of youth organization education in the early twentieth century. It is suitable as reference material for researchers in history, education, and social organizations, and also lets readers interested in the Scout movement see the training discourse of the time. Read it with a historical perspective: some ideas in the book carry obvious period limitations and should be understood in the social context of the time rather than applied directly to contemporary youth education. The electronic edition has no modern introduction, so it is advisable to first learn about the Scout movement in general before entering the main text, and to take excerpts and comparative notes.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students studying the history of the Scout movement and youth organization education
Historical readers interested in early twentieth-century social education and gender issues
General readers with good English reading ability willing to research the background independently

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking the latest contemporary Girl Scout training manual
Beginners with weak English needing a Chinese introduction and annotations
Young children, as both the text's historical background and language difficulty are unsuitable

Reading tips

First review the general history of the Scout movement and Girl Scout development before entering the main text, to avoid reading it out of historical context.
Take thematic excerpts chapter by chapter, distinguishing three types of content: training methods, organizational principles, and period ideas.
Mark statements with period limitations while reading, and discuss them against secondary research.
Read alongside the author's other Scout works to compare differences in training philosophy for different groups.

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 a novel or a training manual?

It is not a novel but a work on Girl Scout training and organizational philosophy, leaning toward education and social organization practice. It is a public-domain historical document, better read as source material than as a story.

Are the ideas in the book still applicable today?

Some ideas bear the mark of the early twentieth century and should not be directly applied to contemporary youth education. A more valuable approach is to place them back in historical context, understand the social background and educational thinking of the time, and then discuss them critically.

What English level is needed to read it?

The text is in original English, with sentence structures and wording characteristic of its era. Good English reading ability is recommended, along with a willingness to actively verify historical background and proper nouns; otherwise organizational terminology and conceptual statements may be difficult.

Comments

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About the author

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell Author · British · 1857–1941

Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) was a British Army lieutenant general, author, and founder of the worldwide Scout Movement. Born in London, he took part in the Second Boer War and became a national hero after holding Mafeking for 217 days. In 1908 he published Scouting for Boys, setting out his ideas on Scout training, and in 1910 he and his sister Agnes co-founded the Girl Guide movement. Four of his works are held here, covering spy adventures, a military campaign, Girl Scout training, and inspirational tales for the young; his writing stresses character building and practical education and has had a lasting influence on coming-of-age literature. He spent his later years in Kenya and died in Nyeri.