Cordery

But the Girl Scout uniform was particularly cherished, Ms. Cordery says, because it conveyed that the wearer had "access to arcane masculine knowledge, hitherto forbidden to girls."

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

Ginger Wadsworth relates the outlines of Daisy's life in "First Girl Scout," but the author treads more softly than Ms. Cordery does over the details of her subject's unhappy marriage.

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

Enlisting her well-connected family and talented deputies, she established a Washington, D.C., headquarters to "proclaim the nationwide destiny of the Girl Scouts while reinforcing the message of their civic goals," Ms. Cordery writes.

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

It is clearly intended as a tribute to the American Girl Scouts founder, and will be consulted by plenty of current troop members; readers won't be picking it up expecting the sort of gritty detail that Ms. Cordery supplies, though Ms. Wadsworth is also a Daisy fan.

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

But Ms. Cordery notes that Daisy was also a product of the genteel South, the daughter of a wealthy cotton broker, and "the idea that an elite Southern girl would prepare for a profession was nearly unthinkable."

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

She was devastated by the arrangement, Ms. Cordery says, but kept her wits about her.

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

In typical fashion, her near-deafness in no way slowed her down, Ms. Cordery says, though Daisy "investigated cures, and new treatments and hearing aids always intrigued her."

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

In 1911, when she was seated beside Baden-Powell at a lunch, Ms. Cordery says, Daisy resolved to "set her face against him," certain that the hero of the second Boer War had been celebrated at the expense of friends who had also fought bravely.

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

Ms. Cordery uses a wealth of historical detail to animate both an era and the author's flawed, sometimes exasperating but generally appealing subject.

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012

Ms. Cordery gives us the unexpurgated life—one that might make you want to shield the eyes of the nearest Brownie Scout but one that also lends depth and color to the American Girl Scouts founder's story.

Saluting a Centennial Amy Finnerty 2012