Scout Handbook, eighth edition, first cover (1972-1975; 2.7 million copies printed). Author credit: Frederick L. Hines.
The cover of the eighth edition (1972-1979) Handbook was surprisingly bland - but its contents were not: it was radically different from both earlier and later editions of the manual. In service to the BSA's new Improved Scouting Program of the 1970s, it promoted city-based activities and de-emphasized camping and woodcraft. Non-white faces are prevalent throughout the eighth edition's illustrations.