American Girls and Global Responsibility

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).

"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)

• Acknowledgments  Introduction1. “What Kind of World Do You Want?”: Preparing Girls for Peace and Tolerance in the Atomic Age2. “Hello, World, Let’s Get Together”: Building Global Conversations through Pen Pals and Care Packages3. “Famous for Its Cherry Blossoms”: Reimagining Japan and Germany in the Postwar Period4. “Playing Foreign Shopper”: Consuming Internationalism5. “We Hand the Communists Powerful Propaganda Weapons to Use against Us”: Defending Global Citizenship during the Post–World War II Red ScareEpilogue: The Watchers of the Skies  NotesIndex