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Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts
R.S.S. Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scouts movement in 1908, was a British military hero during the Boer War and an author, actor, artist, spy, sportsman, and female impersonator. In this absorbing and humane account of Baden-Powell’s extraordinary life, Tim Jeal reveals for the first time the complex figure behind the saintly public mask, showing him to be a man of both dazzling talents and crippling secret fears.
Reviews of the earlier edition:
“Baden-Powell’s life story is as rich and engrossing as any of his memorable campfire yarns . . . a monumental biography.”—Zara Steiner, New York Times Book Review
“In an age of good biographies, here is one that deserves to be called great . . . a magnificent book.”—Piers Brendon, Mail on Sunday
“Jeal’s Baden-Powell is brave and self-seeking, devious and honorable, a domestic paragon whose repressed homosexuality fired his career, a soldier of genius who ultimately rejected militarism. . . . The story that Tim Jeal has to tell is epic, funny, and touching.”—Philip Oakes, New Statesman
“Superb.”—Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books
Reviews of the earlier edition:
“Baden-Powell’s life story is as rich and engrossing as any of his memorable campfire yarns . . . a monumental biography.”—Zara Steiner, New York Times Book Review
“In an age of good biographies, here is one that deserves to be called great . . . a magnificent book.”—Piers Brendon, Mail on Sunday
“Jeal’s Baden-Powell is brave and self-seeking, devious and honorable, a domestic paragon whose repressed homosexuality fired his career, a soldier of genius who ultimately rejected militarism. . . . The story that Tim Jeal has to tell is epic, funny, and touching.”—Philip Oakes, New Statesman
“Superb.”—Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books
670 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1989
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109 people want to read
About the author
Tim Jeal
20 books20 followersTim Jeal is the author of acclaimed biographies of Livingstone and Baden-Powell. His memoir, Swimming with My Father, was published by Faber in 2004 and was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He is also a novelist and a former winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 8, 2011
Extremely detailed, pretty slow going at the beginning, but great for breaking down the mythology. Even without the myth, Baden-Powell was a real pioneer, an army officer founding a boy-run, peace-oriented youth organization to compete with the Boy's Brigade and other military-oriented youth groups.
The book is especially good about the siege of Mafeking. B-P may have embellished a few things, but he was an authentic hero at Mafeking.
And no, the book does not say that B-P was gay. It says that he spent so long in all-male company (boarding school and the army) that his only truly close friends were men. He didn't seem to know how to relate to women as closely as to men.
The book is especially good about the siege of Mafeking. B-P may have embellished a few things, but he was an authentic hero at Mafeking.
And no, the book does not say that B-P was gay. It says that he spent so long in all-male company (boarding school and the army) that his only truly close friends were men. He didn't seem to know how to relate to women as closely as to men.
February 25, 2018
You would think that the decades passing since B-P died would preclude the production of a better biography of Scouting's founder, but in fact it seems the opposite is true. First off, the cult of personality surrounding B-P, and the degree to which this was maintained by his widow and others, kept many topics from being critically examined, and others from even being mentioned.
With this in mind, Tim Jeal's book is quite valuable. The passing of so many who knew and had dealings with B-P means that many collections of letters and journals can now be examined which were not available or forthcoming in previous times.
Robert Baden-Powell, founder of what i am told is the largest movement in human history outside of religion, is clearly worthy of a comprehensive biography. Some things I really enjoyed:
1. Learning how the Baden-Powell family dynamic set the stage for so much that happened in B-Ps life/career, and the prominent role his mother played.
2. Understanding how B-P got into the practice of embellishing stories for effect, and realizing that some of the ones most famous in scouting lore, have very different origins.
3. Taking at unflinching look at the ways in which B-P did not live up to his own scout law in everything from personal relations to perjury.
4. The arc of B-P from a pretty unabashed English nationalist to a champion for international cooperation and peace is compelling
5. I also think Tim did a very good job of remaining grounded in the context of the time in which B-P lived, and not losing sight of the peculiar genius that cannot be denied a man responsible for so much that is arguably still good and valuable.
As someone who is committed to preserving and promoting traditional scouting, I left this book with lucidity: I still have great respect for the man, but he does not live on a pedestal in my mind nor my conversations with fellow scouters. As I grapple with my very small versions of things he confronted, I find myself thinking back to how he handled things. Sometimes that is something I want to emulate, sometimes not.
With this in mind, Tim Jeal's book is quite valuable. The passing of so many who knew and had dealings with B-P means that many collections of letters and journals can now be examined which were not available or forthcoming in previous times.
Robert Baden-Powell, founder of what i am told is the largest movement in human history outside of religion, is clearly worthy of a comprehensive biography. Some things I really enjoyed:
1. Learning how the Baden-Powell family dynamic set the stage for so much that happened in B-Ps life/career, and the prominent role his mother played.
2. Understanding how B-P got into the practice of embellishing stories for effect, and realizing that some of the ones most famous in scouting lore, have very different origins.
3. Taking at unflinching look at the ways in which B-P did not live up to his own scout law in everything from personal relations to perjury.
4. The arc of B-P from a pretty unabashed English nationalist to a champion for international cooperation and peace is compelling
5. I also think Tim did a very good job of remaining grounded in the context of the time in which B-P lived, and not losing sight of the peculiar genius that cannot be denied a man responsible for so much that is arguably still good and valuable.
As someone who is committed to preserving and promoting traditional scouting, I left this book with lucidity: I still have great respect for the man, but he does not live on a pedestal in my mind nor my conversations with fellow scouters. As I grapple with my very small versions of things he confronted, I find myself thinking back to how he handled things. Sometimes that is something I want to emulate, sometimes not.
July 26, 2018
A fair and critical examination of Robert Baden Powell's life and legacy, this work "does its homework" to avoid a modern-worldview take, instead honestly assessing the zeitgeist of the Victorian Empire as applied to BP's psyche. Jeal's work is neither hagiographic nor iconoclastic, as all good history writing should avoid.
February 4, 2023
Tells the story of a complex (and repressed) life of adventure and vision, through thorough research.
It's also fascinating for highlighting conflicting narratives and opinions from contemporaries, and expands to explain changing views of Baden Powell as culture and attitudes to Empire evolved over the following decades.
A thoroughly satisfying read.
It's also fascinating for highlighting conflicting narratives and opinions from contemporaries, and expands to explain changing views of Baden Powell as culture and attitudes to Empire evolved over the following decades.
A thoroughly satisfying read.
April 27, 2018
I only have a passing interest in scouts but this bio is a great insight into the Victorian era and its people. A wonderful life and well recounted
July 17, 2015
It was a slow start. But patience was rewarded. I learned a great deal about a truly fascinating great man who was flawed, but who isn't. Thoroughly balanced, fair and compelling. A must, I would have thought, for all in scouting. I'm not.
December 7, 2011
Enjoyed it a lot. Entertaining, inspiring, and educational. Definitely recommend it to other Scout leaders.
November 19, 2016
An excellent biography, well documented, balanced and fair. A read for experienced Scout Leaders.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews