Learning from the Left

Children's Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching, History, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Children&, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Learning from the Left by Julia L. Mickenberg, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Julia L. Mickenberg ISBN: 9780199882380
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: November 10, 2005
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Julia L. Mickenberg
ISBN: 9780199882380
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: November 10, 2005
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

At the height of the Cold War, dozens of radical and progressive writers, illustrators, editors, librarians, booksellers, and teachers cooperated to create and disseminate children's books that challenged the status quo. Learning from the Left provides the first historic overview of their work. Spanning from the 1920s, when both children's book publishing and American Communism were becoming significant on the American scene, to the late 1960s, when youth who had been raised on many of the books in this study unequivocally rejected the values of the Cold War, Learning from the Left shows how "radical" values and ideas that have now become mainstream (including cooperation, interracial friendship, critical thinking, the dignity of labor, feminism, and the history of marginalized people), were communicated to children in repressive times. A range of popular and critically acclaimed children's books, many by former teachers and others who had been blacklisted because of their political beliefs, made commonplace the ideas that McCarthyism tended to call "subversive." These books, about history, science, and contemporary social conditions-as well as imaginative works, science fiction, and popular girls' mystery series-were readily available to children: most could be found in public and school libraries, and some could even be purchased in classrooms through book clubs that catered to educational audiences. Drawing upon extensive interviews, archival research, and hundreds of children's books published from the 1920s through the 1970s, Learning from the Left offers a history of the children's book in light of the history of the history of the Left, and a new perspective on the links between the Old Left of the 1930s and the New Left of the 1960s. Winner of the Grace Abbott Book Prize of the Society for the History of Children and Youth

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

At the height of the Cold War, dozens of radical and progressive writers, illustrators, editors, librarians, booksellers, and teachers cooperated to create and disseminate children's books that challenged the status quo. Learning from the Left provides the first historic overview of their work. Spanning from the 1920s, when both children's book publishing and American Communism were becoming significant on the American scene, to the late 1960s, when youth who had been raised on many of the books in this study unequivocally rejected the values of the Cold War, Learning from the Left shows how "radical" values and ideas that have now become mainstream (including cooperation, interracial friendship, critical thinking, the dignity of labor, feminism, and the history of marginalized people), were communicated to children in repressive times. A range of popular and critically acclaimed children's books, many by former teachers and others who had been blacklisted because of their political beliefs, made commonplace the ideas that McCarthyism tended to call "subversive." These books, about history, science, and contemporary social conditions-as well as imaginative works, science fiction, and popular girls' mystery series-were readily available to children: most could be found in public and school libraries, and some could even be purchased in classrooms through book clubs that catered to educational audiences. Drawing upon extensive interviews, archival research, and hundreds of children's books published from the 1920s through the 1970s, Learning from the Left offers a history of the children's book in light of the history of the history of the Left, and a new perspective on the links between the Old Left of the 1930s and the New Left of the 1960s. Winner of the Grace Abbott Book Prize of the Society for the History of Children and Youth

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book The Mystery of Allegra Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book André Bazin by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Human Rights: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Democracy of Sound by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Death and Money in The Afternoon by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Electoral Integrity in America by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book The Sociological Imagination by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Western Muslims and the Future of Islam by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Orbán by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Learning with the Lights Off by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book The Greatest Fight of Our Generation by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Governance of International Banking by Julia L. Mickenberg
Cover of the book Diversity in Deaf Education by Julia L. Mickenberg
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy