San Antonio College Library

"In Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths: Girls' Series Books in America, Carolyn Carpan provides a social history of girls' series fiction published in America from the mid-nineteenth century through the early twenty-first century."--Back cover.

"This book follows the development of the Hardy Boys series through 1979. Includes the writing of Stratemeyer and McFarlane; the Cold War and the disco age; race, class, gender; family values; law and order; and action rather than violence. Appendices provide a bibliography of Hardy Boys books, opening lines from 20 novels, and selected "Hardyisms.""--Provided by publisher.

"Alternating chapters of historical background and literary analysis, this study argues that postbellum series books inspired young women by illustrating the ways in which girls could participate in social change. The book adds to the existing scholarship on girls' culture by tracing the shifting social ideologies of girlhood throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries"--Provided by publisher.