Girls to the Rescue: Young Heroines in American Series Fiction of World War I

by Emily Hamilton-Honey, Susan Ingalls Lewis

Overview

During World War I, as young men journeyed overseas to battle, American women maintained the home front by knitting, fundraising, and conserving supplies. These became daily chores for young girls, but many longed to be part of a larger, more glorious war effort--and some were. A new genre of young adult books entered the market, written specifically with the young girls of the war period in mind and demonstrating the wartime activities of women and girls all over the world. Through fiction, girls could catch spies, cross battlefields, man machine guns, and blow up bridges. These adventurous heroines were contemporary feminist role models, creating avenues of leadership for women and inspiring individualism and self-discovery. The work presented here analyzes the powerful messages in such literature, how it created awareness and grappled with the engagement of real girls in the United States and Allied war effort, and how it reflects their contemporaries' awareness of girls' importance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476668796
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	05/25/2020
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Emily Hamilton-Honey is an associate professor of English and gender studies at SUNY Canton, specializing in series fiction, girlhood studies, and postbellum and Progressive Era American women’s literature and history. She lives in Canton, New York. Susan Ingalls Lewis is a professor emerita in the department of history, SUNY New Paltz, specializing in American women’s history, the Progressive Era, and New York State history. She lives in Rosendale, New York.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Introduction 5

1 Preparedness 31

2 Girls Who Stay at Home 50

3 Girls Who Nurse and Do Relief Work 74

4 Girls Who Drive and Fly 99

5 Uncovering Spies and Saboteurs 116

6 Girls Who Rescue Men 138

7 Girls Who Fight 157

Conclusion 177

Appendix A Book Series in Order of Publication 193

Appendix B Series Authors 198

Appendix C Summaries of the Wartime Volumes from Individual Series 201

Chapter Notes 231

Bibliography 235

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

A meticulously detailed and accessibly written analysis of a broad range of fictional book series about girls in the WW I era…Hamilton-Honey and Lewis conclude that these heroines were far more feminist than those in the following decades…recommended”—Choice

From the Publisher