''The Headmaster: Frank L. Boyden of Deerfield'' is a 1966 book by

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth ...

, profiling

Frank Boyden Frank Learoyd Boyden (September 16, 1879 – April 25, 1972) was headmaster of Deerfield Academy from 1902 to 1968. Early life Boyden was born at his family's homestead in Foxborough, Massachusetts. His maternal grandfather was a missionary in ...

, the long-time headmaster of

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy is an elite coeducational preparatory school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association, the Ten Schools Admissi ...

. The book was expanded from a magazine profile in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''.

Critical reception

The ''Kirkus'' review called the book an "effortless portrait" and wrote that it was "much more interesting" than Roger Drury's ''Drury of St. Paul's'' (1964). The ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' review noted that the book was not only a depiction of Boyden, but also "a record of the touching and memorable partnership of a man and his wife." Jan Ophus wrote in ''

Education Week ''Education Week'' is an independent news organization that has covered K–12 education since 1981. It is owned by Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), a nonprofit organization, and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland in Greater Washington ...

'' in 2000 that the book should be required reading for every high school principal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Headmaster, The 1966 non-fiction books American biographies Farrar, Straus and Giroux books