The McGuffey Readers Selections from the 1879 Edition

by Gorn, Elliott J.

• ISBN13: 9780312133986
• ISBN10: 0312133987
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-02-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

The most influential books in the history of American education, The McGuffey Readers not only taught reading skills and classic literature but also imparted idealized middle class virtues to millions of schoolchildren. This anthology organizes more than eighty selections from all six volumes of the 1879 edition into twelve thematic chapters, making it possible for readers to examine the cultural assumptions that permeated middle America in the nineteenth century. A general introduction places the books in their historical context and provides background information on the life and career of their compiler, William Holmes McGuffey. Helpful editorial features include chapter introductions, a chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliography, illustrations from the 1879 edition, and an index.

Author Biography

Elliot J. Gorn is professor of history and American studies at Miami University (Ohio). He is author of Mother Jones: An American Life (2000); coauthor, with Warren Goldstein, of A Brief History of American Sports (1993); coeditor, with Peter Williams and Mary Cayton, of The Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993); and coeditor, with Randy Roberts and Terry D. Bilharts, of Constructing the American Past: A Source Book of a People's History, Second Edition (1995), a reader for the American history survey course.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction: Educating America

The McGuffey Readers

America's Schoolmaster

Growing Up with the Territory

The McGuffey's Lessons

The McGuffey's Audience

Contexts

The Heartland

Pedagogy

The McGuffeys Today

Notes

Selections From The Mcguffey Readers

Childhood Early Lessons Patty and the Squirrel Mamma's Present Young Soldiers

Family Evening at Home

A Kind Brother

The Seven Sticks

The Last Child

The Machinist's Return

A Home Scene

Virtues A Place for Everything

Cheerfulness Lend a Hand

When to Say No

The Contented Boy

Try, Try Again

Vices

Pretty Is that Pretty Does

The Greedy Girl

Beware of the First Drink

The Alarm-Watch

The Insolent Boy

The Festal Board

Taking Comfort

Character

The Broken Window

The Broken Window (Concluded)

The New-Year

True Courage

No Crown for Me

The Good Son

Education

The Truant

I Will Think of It

Consequences of Idleness

Advantages of Industry

Emulation

Necessity of Education

Men and Women

Courage and Cowardice

True Manliness

True Manliness (Concluded)

Rock Me to Sleep

My Mother's Bible

House-Cleaning

Religion

God Is Great and Good

Things to Remember

The Lord's Prayer

Who Made the Stars?

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