Book review: Homer Lane: a biography by W. David Wills

Pollard, Hugh M. (1964) Book review: Homer Lane: a biography by W. David Wills. British Journal of Educational Studies, 13 (1). p. 106.

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Abstract

After reading this book some people may find it difficult to imagine such a man ever came to be regarded in advanced educational circles as a prophet of light, life and liberty. As Wills makes abundantly clear, there was a good deal about Lane that was distasteful: his predilection for the lime-light, his 'go-getting' qualities, his passing himself off as a psychological consultant in order to gain the confidence of gullible people whom he subsequently used for his own ends, and, above all, his ideas concerning divinity. Wills spares no details. His patient research over fifteen years has unearthed a mass of facts not known to Miss Bazeley when she wrote Homer Lane and the Little Commonwealth. Not all of them are palatable. Appendix I, for instance, makes unpleasant reading, though Wills considers the criminal charges brought against Lane unproved.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	British Journal of Educational Studies
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge) for Society for Educational Studies (SES)
ISSN:	1467-8527
Departments:	Professional Services > Vice Chancellor's Office
Additional Information:	Hugh Pollard reviews W. David Wills' 1964 book 'Homer Lane: a biography' (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.). Hugh Mortimer Pollard, educationist (1915-2005), M.A., PhD., founded St Martin's College, Lancaster, UK in 1963.
Depositing User:	Insight Administrator
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2010 11:43
Last Modified:	11 Jan 2024 17:15
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/570

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