Playing with History

American Identities and Children's Consumer Culture

Molly Rosner

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781978822092
• Topic: Sciences sociales
• Subtopic: Sociologie

Since the advent of the American toy industry, children's cultural products have attempted to teach and sell ideas of American identity. By examining cultural products geared towards teaching children American history, Playing With History highlights the changes and constancies in depictions of the American story and ideals of citizenship over the last one hundred years. This book examines political and ideological messages sold to children throughout the twentieth century, tracing the messages conveyed by racist toy banks, early governmental interventions meant to protect the toy industry, influences and pressures surrounding Cold War stories of the western frontier, the fractures visible in the American story at a mid-century history themed amusement park. The study culminates in a look at the successes and limitations of the American Girl Company empire.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Made in America: The Rise of the American Toy Industry
• 2. Dolling Up History: 1930s Antique Dolls and the Clark Doll Study
• 3. “Gosh, It’s Exciting to Be an American”: The “Orange” and Landmark History Books during the Cold War
• 4. Family Fun for Everyone?: Freedomland U.S.A., 1960–1964
• 5. Selling Multicultural Girlhood: The American Girl Doll, 1986 to Present
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author