"By Sheer Pluck", by George Alfred Henty, is set in Africa and features a sympathetic character patronizing Africans as "just like children" and declaring, "the intelligence of an average negro is about equal to that of a European child of ten years old... Left alone to their own devices they retrograde into a state little above their native savagery."

Over the last decade, Art Robinson's homeschool curriculum business has sold thousands of copies of the book.

Arthur Robinson has carved out a niche selling a Christian home schooling curriculum developed by his late wife, who according to Robinson compiled it curriculum from material culled from Christian homeschooling curricula published from Bob Jones University, the A Beka Book series, and other sources.

The Robinson Self Teaching Curriculum includes, as a reference for students, a 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica and a 1611 King James Version of the Bible which "is the foundational book of the Curriculum." As a 2001 article in The American Spectator described,

[Art Robinson's] family members have developed a home school curriculum consisting of over 250 books-among them the 30,000-page 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica—which the youngsters took turns scanning into computers. The curriculum was transferred to 22 compact discs, which are sold in a box for $195. Over four years, 20,000 sets have been sold. More recently, with typical single-mindedness, Robinson tracked down all 99 historical novels by the Edwardian writer G. A. Henty, and they in turn were optically scanned. Three thousand Henty sets (6 CD'S) were shipped in the first year. They retail for $99.

Here's what Art Robinson's Home Schooling Curriculum web site has to say about George Alfred Henty's books:

Our initial printing emphasizes the wonderful collection of historical novels written by G. A. Henty. While some of these books have been in print, two-thirds of them have been out of print and generally unavailable to home school readers. G. A. Henty wrote at a time when the teaching of a deep Christian faith, high moral character, sound ethical principles, a strong work ethic, simple personal humility, and self-confidence based on real accomplishments were considered essential to the education of each young person. This is in sharp contrast to today's tax-financed schools where these values are deliberately excluded. The Henty books provide training in history and in many of the highest aspects of human character, while holding the attention of the reader with tales of adventure written by a master story teller. Not only do Henty's heroes serve as excellent examples to people of all ages, his own vocabulary, grammar, and literary skills serve as outstanding examples to young writers, readers, and speakers of the English language. In learning to write, as in learning to speak, the examples that children follow are the most important factors in their accomplishments.

American young people should read not a few Henty books, but all 99 of them. Taken together, they constitute a superb course in world history and an education in some of the the highest aspects of human behavior in the heroes - and in some of the lowest aspects in the villains.

According to a PBS description of Henty's numerous formulaic 19th Century novels geared towards adolescent boys, "Henty's books are notable for their hearty imperialism, undisguised racism, and jingoistic patriotism." In his 1884 novel "By Sheer Pluck," in a chapter titled "The Dark Continent" Alfred George Henty wrote,

"the intelligence of an average negro is about equal to that of a European child of ten years old. A few, a very few, go beyond this, but these are exceptions... Living among white men, their imitative faculties enable them to acquire a considerable amount of civilization. Left alone to their own devices they retrograde into a state little above their native savagery."

Signatory to A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism, a 2001 statement, from the creationist Discovery Institute, that challenges the Theory of Evolution, Art Robinson in 1986 co-authored with Dr. Gary North a book on how to survive nuclear war titled, Fighting Chance: Ten Feet To Survival. The book advocated bringing back the so-called "Duck and Cover" civil defense approach promoted by the US government civil defense film "Duck and Cover" shown in US schools to schoolchildren in the 1950's and 1960's.

Gary North, a leading Christian Reconstructionist theologian, prolific author, and former Congressional staffer for Texas Congressman Ron Paul (who has endorsed Art Robinson's congressional campaign.) In a November 23, 2002 post at the web site LouRockwell.com, North described how Robinson had purchased an industrial printing press to print hard cover copies of the G. A. Henty boys' novel series:

My friend Art Robinson, a scientist and the publisher of the Access to Energy newsletter, recently bought a used $3 million printing press and support equipment for about three cents on the dollar at an auction. The owner had gone out of business. There were few bidders for that press in a recession year. Robinson uses it to publish a series of over a hundred boys’ novels, based on world history, written in the 19th century by G. A. Henty. Robinson had assembled a large mailing list of potential customers who had already bought all of Henty’s books on Robinson’s Henty CD-ROM for $99 – a terrific deal. http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com Now parents and grandparents can buy the hardbacks.

Gary North is a protege' of founder of the Christian Reconstructionism movement founder Rousas J. Rushdoony. In 1992 Rushdoony spoke at the inaugural event of the U.S. Taxpayers Party, later re-branded as the Constitution Party. In 2008 Ron Paul endorsed the Constitution Party candidate for president of the United States, and current Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul keynoted a Minnesota Constitution Party rally in April 2009.

Rousas Rushdoony advocated executing by stoning homosexuals, adulterers, and women who have intercourse before marriage, wanted to reimpose slavery, claimed that African-American slaves were lucky, was a Holocaust denier and a creationist, and maintained that the Sun rotates around the Earth.

Arthur Robinson's homeschooling curriculum, for "parents concerned about socialism in the public schools," contains several references to R. J. Rushdoony including a 51 minute audio recording of an interview with the now-deceased Christian Reconstructionist titan.







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[for other detailed explorations of Arthur Robinson's possible political views, see here and here]