The Girls' History and Culture Reader: The Twentieth Century

by Miriam Forman-Brunell (Contributor), Leslie Paris (Editor), Joan Jacobs Brumberg (Contributor)

The Girls' History and Culture The Twentieth Century provides scholars, instructors, and students with the most influential essays that have defined the field of American girls' history and culture. A relatively new and energetic field of inquiry, girl-centered research is critical for a fuller understanding of women and gender, a deeper consideration of childhood and adolescence, and a greater acknowledgment of the significance of generation as a historical force in American culture and society.

 

Bringing together work from top scholars of women and youth, The Girls' History and Culture The Twentieth Century illustrates girls' centrality to major twentieth-century forces such as immigration, labor, feminism, and consumerism. Themes in this pioneering volume include girls' use of fashion and music, their roles as workers, their friendships, and new ideas about girls' bodies. While girls in the twentieth century found new avenues for personal ambition and self-expression, especially at school and in the realm of leisure and popular culture, they continued to wrestle with traditional ideas about feminine identity, socialization, and sexuality.

 

Contributors are Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Rachel Devlin, Susan J. Douglas, Miriam Forman-Brunell, Kyra D. Gaunt, Mary Celeste Kearney, Ilana Nash, Mary Odem, Leslie Paris, Kathy Peiss, Vicki L. Ruiz, Kelly Schrum, and Judy Yung.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

352 pages, Paperback

First published December 13, 2010

Reviews

[Elsie Birnbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book about six months ago and only just now got around to reading it. Oh man do I regret not getting to this sooner. Academic writing like this makes me want to go to grad school. Each article in this reader covered a topic almost entirely new to me and I say that as someone who has spent the past three years studying the history of American Girl Scouting. This collection feels unique in the sheer variety of topics covered whether it be low income single mothers taking their breadwinning teenage daughters to court in the 20's to the creation of the "teen-ager" in the 1930's to the frankly deeply distressing psychoanalytical norms around father daughter incest in the 1950's. Truly a revelation to read!

My only complaint I could lodge with the book is that of the thirteen chapters, only three cover girls after 1960 and two of those chapters focus on girls in the 1990s. I'm sure this reflects a dearth of content for the later half of the twentieth century but surely there were some girls cultures in the 70's and 80's worth covering (honestly this book makes me crave a good article on the history of the Easy Bake Oven).

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for an article on 2nd generation Chinese American girls in the 1920s for a class I'm teaching, but was charmed by thought-provoking works on the rise of girls camps (a subject close to my heart) and the conceptualization of 'personhood' in Nancy Drew.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference, very much recommended.