ECU Libraries Catalog

Empire's nursery : children's literature and the origins of the American century / Brian Rouleau.

Author/creator Rouleau, Brian author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info New York : New York University Press, [2021]
Description311 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
Subject(s)
Incomplete content How the West was fun -- Serialized Impreialism -- Empire's amateurs -- Internationalist impulses -- Dollar diplomacy for the price of a few nickels -- Comic book cold war.
Abstract "America's empire was not made by adults only. In fact, junior citizens were essential to its creation. Children's literature during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries sought to impart an imperial consciousness among the nation's youth, while adult authors strive to raise rising generations of enthusiastic juvenile jingoes. But young people were neither unwitting nor unwilling puppets in the propagation of America's expansionistic foreign policy. Instead, Empire's Nursery demonstrates that juvenile readers often played an active part in committing the country to adventurism overseas. The history of the United States in the world must therefore make room for the country's littlest policymakers. As kids eagerly read dime novels, series fiction, pulp magazines, and comic books that dramatized the virtues of empire, they helped entrench a growing belief in America's indispensability to the international order. The American Century's actualization depended upon the patient work of writers proselytizing among the youthful millions educated to embrace their Uncle Sam's growing global entanglements"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in other formebook version : 9781479804504
Genre/formCriticism, interpretation, etc.
LCCN 2021003070
ISBN9781479804474 hardcover
ISBN1479804479 hardcover
ISBNelectronic book
ISBNelectronic book

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PS490 .R68 2021 ✔ Available Place Hold