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The definitive book-length study of the great classics of American children’s literature, now updated for a new century.Outstanding Book of the Year Award, Children’s Literature AssociationOften called the Golden Age of Children’s Books, the years stretching from the Civil War to World War I were a remarkable epoch in juvenile literature, an era when the best authors on both sides of the Atlantic wrote some of their finest work primarily for children. In Audacious Kids, Jerry Griswold provides a groundbreaking and lucid study of twelve of these classic American children’s tales, including such time-honored stories as Little Women, Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden, and The Wizard of Oz. Griswold’s most remarkable insight is that, fundamentally, these twelve books all tell essentially the same story: a child is orphaned, makes a journey, is adopted and harassed by adults, and eventually triumphs over them and comes into his or her own. Griswold, a leading figure in the study of children’s literature, also reveals that these tales emphasize motifs that are distinctly American, such as positive thinking, concern with health, and the concealment of sex and violence, and he shows how these secular parables replaced religion with psychology and preached gospels of emotional self-control and optimism. In this revised edition, which is aimed at students, scholars, and general readers, Griswold has updated the text throughout and added a new preface, introduction, and select bibliography.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Endorsements, Half Title, Frontispiece, Title Page, Copyright, Quotation
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. Preface 2014
  2. pp. ix-xvi
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  1. Preface to the First Edition
  2. pp. xvii-xxii
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  1. Introduction 2014: A History of American Children’s Literature
  2. pp. 1-15
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  1. Introduction to the First Edition: Fundamental Similarities among Twelve American Children’s Books
  2. pp. 16-40
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  1. Part One: Oedipal Patterns
  2. pp. 41-42
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  1. 1. There’s No Place but Home: The Wizard of Oz
  2. pp. 43-56
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  1. 2. The Long Parricidal Dream: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  2. pp. 57-91
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  1. 3. Spinster Aunt, Sugar Daddy, and Child-Woman: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
  2. pp. 92-112
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  1. Part Two: Manuals of Republicanism
  2. pp. 113-114
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  1. 4. Motherland, Fatherland, or Oedipal Politics: Little Lord Fauntleroy
  2. pp. 115-126
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  1. 5. Ur of the Ur-Stories: Tarzan of the Apes
  2. pp. 127-144
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  1. 6. Impostors, Succession, and Faux Histories: The Prince and the Pauper
  2. pp. 145-166
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  1. Part Three: The Theater of Feelings
  2. pp. 167-168
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  1. 7. Remorse and Regrets: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  2. pp. 169-183
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  1. 8. Bosom Enemies: Little Women
  2. pp. 184-195
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  1. 9. Bread and Circuses: Toby Tyler
  2. pp. 196-216
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  1. Part Four: The Gospel of Optimism
  2. pp. 217-218
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  1. 10. Sunny Land, Angry Waters: Hans Brinker
  2. pp. 219-232
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  1. 11. Positive Thinking: The Secret Garden
  2. pp. 233-249
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  1. 12. Radical Innocence: Pollyanna
  2. pp. 250-274
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  1. Afterword to the First Edition
  2. pp. 275-280
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 281-320
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  1. Select Bibliography
  2. pp. 321-326
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 327-339
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