On My Honour

Arising in the first decades of the twentieth century, the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements came into existence in Britain in an era of social and political unrest and were initially the center of intense controversy. Through the years, Guiding and Scouting broke down class, race, and gender distinctions and helped youth cope with an emerging mass culture and allowed boys and girls to stretch gender and generational boundaries. Using official documents, logbooks, diaries, and oral histories, Tammy Proctor explores the formation of the Scouts and Guides and their transformation during and after World War I. The interwar period marked a departure for the two organizations as they emerged as large multinational organizations that targeted not only adolesents, but also smaller children and young adults.