Scout's honor : a father's unlikely foray into the woods / Peter Applebome.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Applebome, Peter.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Boy Scouts.

Father and child--United States--Case studies.

Father and child.

Boy Scouts of America.

United States.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xxi, 330 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Orlando, Fla. : Harcourt, Inc., [2003]

Summary:

Peter Applebome grew up obsessed with box scores and basketball, and happily assumed his son Ben would follow in his footsteps. But Ben had other ideas. He soon informed his dad that what he really liked was camping and hiking -- and when he joined the local Boy Scout troop Applebome found himself along for the ride. Scout's Honor is the story of how a 50-year-old, self-proclaimed "committed indoorsman" became a Scout. As someone who had never made a fire in anything but a gas grill and couldn't tie a knot except in his shoelaces, Applebome was an unlikely recruit. He takes us through the three years he and Ben spent with the troop, from the low points (sneaking out of camp to watch college basketball in a bar) to the high (winning the Scoutmaster Challenge), and through all the sweltering hikes, soggy canoe trips, and bearhaunted campouts in between. He draws affectionate portraits of troop leaders, volunteer dads, and the motley troop of kids in their charge. And, most surprisingly, he finds himself growing to appreciate Scouting's old-fashioned virtues -- well, at least most of them -- as he grapples with the modern-day controversies that will determine Scouting's future. Laced with a fascinating history of Scouting and the deeply eccentric men who created it, Scout's Honor is a gloriously funny tale of misadventure that reminds us what a father will do for a son and what Scouting has done for American boyhood.

Contents:

Introduction: my unexpected detour

Year 1

Canoeing at Jerry's

Trustworthy, loyal, helpful

Troop 1 and other chappaquacks

Gathering of the tribes

The hero of mafeking

A winter hike on the A.T.

Gear, God and the klondike derby

The church of the woods

Terra incognita

Summer camp 1 - the zen of scout socks

Year 2

Peaks and valleys

Boy scouts of America vs. James Dale

Summer camp 2 - Baden-Powell meets Bob Dylan

Year 3

Eagles, ordeals and other transitions

Summer camp 3 - going for the gold

A final trip.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0151005923

OCLC:

51653168

Online:

Publisher description