American Girls and Global Responsibility: A New Relation to the World during the Early Cold War

Author:   Jennifer Helgren
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
ISBN:  

9780813575797


Pages:   256
Publication Date:   17 April 2017
Recommended Age:   From 18 to 99 years
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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American Girls and Global Responsibility: A New Relation to the World during the Early Cold War


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Overview

American Girls and Global Responsibility brings together insights from Cold War culture studies, girls’ studies, and the history of gender and militarization to shed new light on how age and gender work together to form categories of citizenship.   Jennifer Helgren argues that a new internationalist girl citizenship took root in the country in the years following World War II in youth organizations such as Camp Fire Girls, Girl Scouts, YWCA Y-Teens, schools, and even magazines like Seventeen. She shows the particular ways that girls’ identities and roles were configured, and reveals the links between internationalist youth culture, mainstream U.S. educational goals, and the U.S. government in creating and marketing that internationalist girl, thus shaping the girls’ sense of responsibilities as citizens. 

Full Product Details

Author:   Jennifer Helgren
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
Imprint:   Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.513kg
ISBN:  

9780813575797


ISBN 10:   0813575796
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   17 April 2017
Recommended Age:   From 18 to 99 years
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments   Introduction 1. “What Kind of World Do You Want?”: Preparing Girls for Peace and Tolerance in the Atomic Age 2. “Hello, World, Let’s Get Together”: Building Global Conversations through Pen Pals and Care Packages 3. “Famous for Its Cherry Blossoms”: Reimagining Japan and Germany in the Postwar Period 4. “Playing Foreign Shopper”: Consuming Internationalism 5. “We Hand the Communists Powerful Propaganda Weapons to Use against Us”: Defending Global Citizenship during the Post–World War II Red Scare Epilogue: The Watchers of the Skies   Notes Index

Reviews

Helgren's study adds a new and important perspective to conversations on citizenship, internationalism, and gender in the early Cold War era. --Donna Alvah American Historical Review Helgren's study provides a fresh examination of cultural diplomacy in the early Cold War years by demonstrating how American girls and their organizations advanced U.S. foreign policy. [The book] skillfully connects an impressive level of primary research to the scholarship on childhood, gender, and international relations. --Donna Alvah Peace & Change In a world where people are divided and marginalized, Helgren's work offers valuable lessons about the important roles that girl citizens can teach Americans today about global cooperation and mutual understanding. --Donna Alvah Journal for the History of Childhood and Youth In this exceptional study of mid-twentieth-century youth culture, Helgren provides an insightful and engaging perspective of postwar girlhood and the literature that influenced it. --Donna Alvah Children's Literature Association Quarterly Helgren addresses a missing chapter in the history of American girlhood: their roles as productive citizens in the postwar United States. This is a welcome and well-researched study that shows how girls worked to build a peaceful, outward looking, and internationalist citizenship befitting a nation seeking to reestablish ties with its former enemies. --Rachel Devlin author of Relative Intimacy: Fathers, Adolescent Daughters, and Postwar American Culture Drawing on extensive historical evidence created by girls, Helgren cogently demonstrates that despite being stereotyped as 'frivolous, ' pre-adolescent and teenage girls contributed to post-World War II efforts to create friendly, peaceful international relationships while also promoting U.S. global leadership in the early Cold War. This book is a valuable contribution to histories of childhood and youth, gender, U.S. foreign relations, and peace activism. --Donna Alvah author of 'Unofficial Ambassadors': American Military Families Overseas and the Cold War, 1946-1965 American Girls and Global Responsibility is part of a growing body of literature that explores how the constructions of childhood and the actions of young people intersect with histories of war, peace work, and international relations. Much like the youth who collected scrap metal and weeded family victory gardens did their bit during the world wars, a shared spirit of youth was inspired (and required) to do their part, this time in the battle for winning hearts and minds. --Donna Alvah Journal of American Studies


Drawing on extensive historical evidence created by girls, Helgren cogently demonstrates that despite being stereotyped as 'frivolous, ' pre-adolescent and teenage girls contributed to post-World War II efforts to create friendly, peaceful international relationships while also promoting U.S. global leadership in the early Cold War. This book is a valuable contribution to histories of childhood and youth, gender, U.S. foreign relations, and peace activism. --Donna Alvah author of 'Unofficial Ambassadors': American Military Families Overseas and the Cold War, 1946-1965


""Helgren addresses a missing chapter in the history of American girlhood: their roles as productive citizens in the postwar United States. This is a welcome and well-researched study that shows how girls worked to build a peaceful, outward looking, and internationalist citizenship befitting a nation seeking to reestablish ties with its former enemies.""   -- Rachel Devlin * author of Relative Intimacy: Fathers, Adolescent Daughters, and Postwar American Culture * ""Drawing on extensive historical evidence created by girls, Helgren cogently demonstrates that despite being stereotyped as 'frivolous,' pre-adolescent and teenage girls contributed to post-World War II efforts to create friendly, peaceful international relationships while also promoting U.S. global leadership in the early Cold War.  This book is a valuable contribution to histories of childhood and youth, gender, U.S. foreign relations, and peace activism.""   -- Donna Alvah * author of 'Unofficial Ambassadors': American Military Families Overseas and the Cold War, 1946-1965 * ""Helgren's study provides a fresh examination of cultural diplomacy in the early Cold War years by demonstrating how American girls and their organizations advanced U.S. foreign policy. [The book]  skillfully connects an impressive level of primary research to the scholarship on childhood, gender, and international relations."" * Peace & Change * ""In this exceptional study of mid-twentieth-century youth culture, Helgren provides an insightful and engaging perspective of postwar girlhood and the literature that influenced it."" * Children's Literature Association Quarterly * ""Helgren’s study adds a new and important perspective to conversations on citizenship, internationalism, and gender in the early Cold War era."" * American Historical Review * ""In a world where people are divided and marginalized, Helgren’s work offers valuable lessons about the important roles that girl citizens can teach Americans today about global cooperation and mutual understanding."" * Journal for the History of Childhood and Youth * ""American Girls and Global Responsibility is part of a growing body of literature that explores how the constructions of childhood and the actions of young people intersect with histories of war, peace work, and international relations. Much like the youth who collected scrap metal and weeded family victory gardens did their bit during the world wars, a shared spirit of youth was inspired (and required) to do their part, this time in the battle for winning hearts and minds."" * Journal of American Studies *


Drawing on extensive historical evidence created by girls, Helgren cogently demonstrates that despite being stereotyped as 'frivolous, ' pre-adolescent and teenage girls contributed to post-World War II efforts to create friendly, peaceful international relationships while also promoting U.S. global leadership in the early Cold War. This book is a valuable contribution to histories of childhood and youth, gender, U.S. foreign relations, and peace activism. --Donna Alvah author of 'Unofficial Ambassadors' American Military Families Overseas and the Cold War, 1946-1965 Helgren addresses a missing chapter in the history of American girlhood: their roles as productive citizens in the postwar United States. This is a welcome and well-researched study that shows how girls worked to build a peaceful, outward looking, and internationalist citizenship befitting a nation seeking to reestablish ties with its former enemies. --Rachel Devlin author of Relative Intimacy: Fathers, Adolescent Daughters, and Postwar American Culture


Helgren addresses a missing chapter in the history of American girlhood: their roles as productive citizens in the postwar United States. This is a welcome and well-researched study that shows how girls worked to build a peaceful, outward looking, and internationalist citizenship befitting a nation seeking to reestablish ties with its former enemies. --Rachel Devlin author of Relative Intimacy: Fathers, Adolescent Daughters, and Postwar American Culture


Author Information

JENNIFER HELGREN is an associate professor in the department of history at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She is also coeditor of Girlhood: A Global History (Rutgers University Press).  

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