Turning the Pages of American Girlhood

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.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionOne.Learning to Be an Angel: Religion and Reading for Nineteenth-Century American GirlsTwo.Angels in the House: Christian Womanhood and Community Power in Postbellum Girls’ SeriesThree.A Revolution in Series Production: Edward Stratemeyer and the Commodification of Series BooksFour.Communities of Friends: Series Heroines as Consumers, 1901–1930Five.Two Miles Forward, One Mile Back: Gender Battles During the Great WarSix.Running the Gamut and the Gauntlet: World War I Series Fiction as a Catalyst for Change in the Cultural Landscape of American GirlhoodSeven. Taking Advantage of New Markets: Ruth Fielding as a Motion Picture Screenwriter, Producer, and ExecutiveConclusion: Nancy Drew and a New EraAppendix: Series Books in Order of PublicationBibliographyIndex

“Hamilton-Honey provides a valuable exploration of the sociohistorical evolution of both the genre of girls’ series fiction and adolescent girlhood itself. Her bibliography will prove invaluable. Highly recommended”—Choice; “provocative and significant...historical analysis of series books enables a more informed reading of contemporary fiction”—Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature.