Jessica K. Taft is Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

• Acknowledgments 1 Introduction: Growing Up and Rising UpPart 1: Building the Activist Identity 2 We Are Not Ophelia: Empowerment and Activist Identities 3 We Are Not the Future: Claiming Youth Authority 4 We Are Not Girls: Escaping and Defining GirlhoodPart 2: Making Change Happen 5 The Street Is Our Classroom: A Politics of Learning 6 Join the Party: A Politics of Participation 7 We've Got Spirit: A Politics of Hope 8 Conclusion: Still Rising Methodological Appendix Demographic Tables Notes Index About the Author

Jessica K. Taft describes how teenage girls are active participants and leaders in a variety of social movements, from anti-war walkouts to anarchist youth newspapers, rallies against educational privitization, and workshops on fair trade. (Z Magazine) Taft adds a valuable contribution to youth, girlhood, and activist studies. - R.C. Raby (Choice) This is not only a powerful sociological account of the making of a counter-culture girl identitythat of the socially active, community-minded girl; it is also a treasure trove of data. - Maya Bernstein (Lilith Magazine) Rebel Girls serves the important purpose of bringing to light and describing a marginalized aspect of activist culture. - Emily Abrahams (Shameless) From interviews with seventy-six teenage girls in five locations and from observations of their political strategies, Taft builds an in-depth picture of girl activism in different socio-cultural and political environments, comparing the more politicized and radical activism in Latin America to that practiced in North America. - Hilary Crew (VOYA Library Magazine) In Rebel Girls, Jessica K. Taft introduces readers to a cadre of girl activists who remain invisible to scholars of both girlhood and social movements. . . Taft unveils the intricate processes through which girl activists contruct collective identities and political strategies within contexts that take neither girl nor youth political activism seriously. - Heather Hensman Kettrey (Mobilization) Taft demonstrates...capacity for nuance. - Courtney E. Martin (Women's Review of Books) In this riveting book, Taft takes us on a journey from San Francisco to Mexico City, Caracas, Vancouver, and Buenos Aires to learn about girls struggles for social justice in a variety of social movements. - Verta Taylor,co-author of Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret