By The People : A History of Americans as Volunteers, New Century Edition

Volunteering is so pervasive in the United States that it can be observed daily in almost every aspect of life-from giving blood to handing out political leaflets. The problem is that volunteering, because it is so pervasive, often goes unrecognized. The historical chapters of this book present an overview of the involvement of volunteers in every area of American life and trace the effect of this involvement on American institutions, professions, and social events. Yet presenting a history of volunteers is not enough. We needed to define terms like volunteer, which has many connotations, and note how the past gives direction for the future. We feel that the ramifications of our historical data are important-not just the history itself. In fact, our perspective on the past gave us a way to address some concerns we have about the present, including: The ways in which volunteering is often misunderstood and therefore volunteers are incorrectly stereotyped as meddlers, do-gooders, radicals, or untrained and unpaid labor. The frequent assumption that volunteering is only done by select segments of the population, such as seniors or women. The tendency to credit volunteer work only in the social welfare area and not to see the many volunteer activities in other aspects of American life, such as political and cultural. The assertion that volunteer involvement is a substitute for adequate funding. By The People puts these issues in historical perspective and suggests implications for the future. There is even an entire chapter specifically on the evolution of the profession of volunteer management.