While researching a person who, in the first half of the 19th century, was deeply involved in adult education, I realized that I needed some background information on just what adult education looked like during that time. Malcolm Knowles’ 1963 work, which he updated in 1988, “The History of the Adult Education Movement in the United States” was highly recommended. Unfortunately he covered the era I was interested in in only thirty three pages. In fact Knowles was writing about the the 1920s before page eighty. There was some information I could used in Knowles’ book but it was much too focused on the modern era for me to be confident I had learned all that I needed. I found Harold Stubblefield’s 1994 work “Adult Education in the American Experience” after a short search that left me a little disappointed on how few book length works have been written about adult education.

It turned out that Stubblefield’s book was exactly what I needed. “Adult Education in the American Experience” is a comprehensive survey of the movements and methods, formal and informal, that educated American adults from Colonial to modern times. Stubblefield cast a very fine net in his research and his thoroughness has a cost. The G.I. Bill, our largest effort to provide adult education only receives a few paragraphs of discussion, however. that is the most in depth examination of any individual topic. Stubblefield has carefully documented the book and provided an extensive bibliography. Whenever I wanted to know more on a subject sources were there. The book’s greatest strength putting all these movements in context. After all, if you need to know about Lyceums or the Chautauqua, or Highlander Folk School you can always ask a librarian. However if you need to know how or when these, and many, many, other movements came about this is the book you need.

Although the period I am researching was covered in the first 120 pages the book continued to hold my interest and I read all of it. The writing is clear, the topic is interesting, and with so much time and so many trends to cover the book is a very interesting read. If you want a historical overview of adult education in the United States this is the book for you. If you want more details on post-World War I adult education in the United States I hear that Malcolm Knowles’ book is very good. ( )