Boys — Then and Now was published by Macmillan in 1926. White returns to the subject of his earlier Court of Boyville — the world of boys — but now with a comparative purpose: contrasting the boyhood he remembered from frontier Kansas (the 1870s and 1880s) with the boyhood he observed in the 1920s.
White’s argument is not simply nostalgic, though nostalgia is present. He observes that the old boyhood was characterized by freedom, self-reliance, and the constant testing of oneself against physical challenges — boys worked, hunted, fought, explored without adult supervision, and learned to rely on their own resources. The modern boyhood is supervised, organized, protected, and channeled through institutions (schools, camps, organized sports) that provide safety but may also produce passivity.
The book is characteristic of White’s method: taking a specific, apparently limited subject (how boys spend their time) and using it to illuminate larger questions about American society, the effects of modernization, and the relationship between freedom and security. It is slight by the standards of his major works but representative of his ability to find significance in the ordinary.
Collecting Boys — Then and Now
First edition (Macmillan, New York, 1926): Cloth.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $20–$50
- Very good: $10–$20