I re-read Study in Scarlet recently. I found the historical issues less a problem -- there is some evidence of early Mormon murders in Utah not totally unlike in the book, or so "Under The Banner of Heaven" contends -- than the gender issues.
The hero fights for his true love until after her wedding night, and then he leaves town and doesn't come back until she's dead. Once she's dead, he can walk right into the house and take her wedding ring, so PRESUMABLY he could have walked in while she was alive and rescued her, but once she's "married" (i.e., carried off), he's not interested in saving her anymore, just in his revenge on her abductors.
Not my idea of a compelling hero.
As for the school decision, if you were going to teach a single Sherlock Holmes story, SiS is a bad place to start. It's badly paced -- the second half is the villains' monologue. Holmes is under-developed: he openly mocks the Copernican/heliocentric theory and claims that he only learns what is absolutely necessary (i.e., footprints and cigar ash, largely) for his detective work. It's only later that Holmes is expanded into the Renaissance man that everyone remembers.......
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Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
I've never read this series but I've watched many an argument about it. Personally, I try to avoid all mention of this series due to the flame wars I've seen it cause.
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HDM is a wonderful series, I highly recommend it.