Frontiers of Boyhood

Frontiers of Boyhood PDF Author: Martin Woodside
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806166649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
When Horace Greeley published his famous imperative, “Go West, young man, and grow up with the country,” the frontier was already synonymous with a distinctive type of idealized American masculinity. But Greeley’s exhortation also captured popular sentiment surrounding changing ideas of American boyhood; for many educators, politicians, and parents, raising boys right seemed a pivotal step in securing the growing nation’s future. This book revisits these narratives of American boyhood and frontier mythology to show how they worked against and through one another—and how this interaction shaped ideas about national character, identity, and progress. The intersection of ideas about boyhood and the frontier, while complex and multifaceted, was dominated by one arresting notion: in the space of the West, boys would grow into men and the fledgling nation would expand to fulfill its promise. Frontiers of Boyhood explores this myth and its implications and ramifications through western history, childhood studies, and a rich cultural archive. Detailing surprising intersections between American frontier mythology and historical notions of child development, the book offers a new perspective on William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s influence on children and childhood; on the phenomenon of “American Boy Books”; the agency of child performers, differentiated by race and gender, in Wild West exhibitions; and the cultural work of boys’ play, as witnessed in scouting organizations and the deployment of mass-produced toys. These mutually reinforcing and complicating strands, traced through a wide range of cultural modes, from social and scientific theorizing to mass entertainment, lead to a new understanding of how changing American ideas about boyhood and the western frontier have worked together to produce compelling stories about the nation’s past and its imagined future.

Frontiers of Boyhood

Frontiers of Boyhood PDF Author: Martin Woodside
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 080616686X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
When Horace Greeley published his famous imperative, “Go West, young man, and grow up with the country,” the frontier was already synonymous with a distinctive type of idealized American masculinity. But Greeley’s exhortation also captured popular sentiment surrounding changing ideas of American boyhood; for many educators, politicians, and parents, raising boys right seemed a pivotal step in securing the growing nation’s future. This book revisits these narratives of American boyhood and frontier mythology to show how they worked against and through one another—and how this interaction shaped ideas about national character, identity, and progress. The intersection of ideas about boyhood and the frontier, while complex and multifaceted, was dominated by one arresting notion: in the space of the West, boys would grow into men and the fledgling nation would expand to fulfill its promise. Frontiers of Boyhood explores this myth and its implications and ramifications through western history, childhood studies, and a rich cultural archive. Detailing surprising intersections between American frontier mythology and historical notions of child development, the book offers a new perspective on William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s influence on children and childhood; on the phenomenon of “American Boy Books”; the agency of child performers, differentiated by race and gender, in Wild West exhibitions; and the cultural work of boys’ play, as witnessed in scouting organizations and the deployment of mass-produced toys. These mutually reinforcing and complicating strands, traced through a wide range of cultural modes, from social and scientific theorizing to mass entertainment, lead to a new understanding of how changing American ideas about boyhood and the western frontier have worked together to produce compelling stories about the nation’s past and its imagined future.

The Generous Years

The Generous Years PDF Author: Chet Huntley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780394426181
Category : Frontier and pioneer life
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Reminiscences by a well known news commentator of his boyhood experiences in Montana during and immediately following World War I.

The Story of My Boyhood and Youth ; And, A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf

The Story of My Boyhood and Youth ; And, A Thousand-mile Walk to the Gulf PDF Author: John Muir
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Botany
Languages : en
Pages : 510

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Book Description


Abe's Fish

Abe's Fish PDF Author: Jen Bryant
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN: 9781402762529
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Based on an actual incident that occurred when Lincoln was just a boy, this tale shows that he had a mischievous streak; that he loved words; and--most important--that even as a small child he pondered the concept of freedom. Full color.

Of This Earth

Of This Earth PDF Author: Rudy Wiebe
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307373479
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
A beautiful, moving memoir of a boy’s coming of age, infused with a deep love of the land, from one of Canada’s most cherished and acclaimed writers. In Of This Earth, Rudy Wiebe gives vivid life again to the vanished world of Speedwell, Saskatchewan, an isolated, poplar-forested, mostly Mennonite community – and Rudy’s first home. Too young to do heavy work, Rudy witnessed a way of life that was soon to disappear. And we experience with him the hard labour of clearing the stony, silty bushland; the digging out of precious wells one bucket of dirt at a time; sorrow at the death of a beloved sister; the disorienting searches for grazing cattle in the vast wilderness sloughs and the sweet discovery of the power of reading. Rare personal photographs (reproduced throughout the book) and the fragile memories of those who are left give shape to the story of Mennonite immigrants building a life in Canada, the growth and decline of the small Speedwell community, the sway of religion, and a young boy’s growing love of the extreme beauty of the aspen forests – as well as how all these elements came to inform his destiny as a writer. A hymn to a lost place and a distant time, Of This Earth follows the best of memoirs in the tradition of Sharon Butala’s The Perfection of the Morning and W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz. It is an evocation of the Canadian west that only a writer of Rudy Wiebe’s powers could summon.

Waiting for the Morning Train

Waiting for the Morning Train PDF Author: Bruce Catton
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814318850
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The celebrated writer reminisces about his boyhood in Michigan at the turn of the century.

George Rogers Clark

George Rogers Clark PDF Author: Katharine E. Wilkie
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458775313
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
Part of the Young Patriots series, which includes Amelia Earhart, Young Air Pioneer (1882859049), Juliette Low, Girl Scout Founder (188285909X), and William Henry Harrison, Young Tippecanoe (1882859073) ''Hook kids on history with the Young Patriots series!' - Learning Magazine This biography details the childhood adventures of George Rogers Clark, the older brother of William Clark of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. George was a courageous explorer and Revolutionary War hero whose bravery and leadership helped win the Battle of Vincennes, saving what would become Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin from British occupation. Georges boyhood curiosity and zest for exploration are described, including his adventures while camping, riding horses, and playing with his childhood friend Thomas Jefferson. Young explorers follow George into the woods, where he rescues a baby raccoon, outwits a hapless thief, saves a money bag, and hunts his first deer. Special features include a summary of Clark's adult accomplishments, fun facts detailing little-known tidbits of information about Clark, and a timeline.

This Stubborn Soil

This Stubborn Soil PDF Author: William A. Owens
Publisher: Lyons Press
ISBN: 9781558219892
Category : Lamar County (Tex.)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The author describes his quest for an education in the midst of poverty and illiteracy in a small town in early-twentieth-century Texas.

Through "Poverty's Vale"

Through Author: Henry Conklin
Publisher: [Syracuse] : Syracuse University Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
An autobiographical account of a frontier family's struggles in a backwoods environment a century ago.