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Intrepid Girls: Virtual Book Reading With Professor Amy Farrell
Intrepid Girls: Virtual Book Reading With Professor Amy Farrell
Wednesday, Jan. 28
noon–1 p.m. Eastern time
Dickinson alumni and families are invited to a virtual book reading with Amy Farrell, professor of American Studies and women's, gender & sexuality studies and James Hope Caldwell Memorial Chair. Farrell will read from her new book, Intrepid Girls: The Complicated History of the Girl Scouts of the USA, discuss her research and answer questions from the Dickinson community.
Intrepid Girls:
When 8-year-old Amy Erdman Farrell moved with her family to Akron, Ohio, in 1972, she found herself adrift in a sea of taunting boys and mean girls. Shy by nature, she dreaded her long, unhappy days at school. But when she joined a Girl Scout troop a few years later, Farrell found an escape from bullying, the promise of sisterhood, a rising sense of confidence, adventure and—best of all—lifelong friendship. Decades later, this award-winning author returns to those formative experiences to explore the complicated and surprising history of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Drawing from extensive archival research, visits to iconic Girl Scout sites around the world and vivid personal reflections, Farrell uncovers the Girl Scouts’ intricate history, revealing how the organization has shaped the lives of more than 50 million girls and women since its founding in 1912. With Farrell as our own intrepid guide, we travel to American Indian boarding schools, Japanese American incarceration centers, segregated African American communities, middle-class white neighborhoods and outposts across the globe. Intrepid Girls unpacks how the Girl Scouts navigated tensions over feminism, race, class and political differences, carving out extraordinary opportunities for girls and women—even as it participated in the very discrimination it promised to transcend.
This is for anyone who has ever worn a uniform or wondered about the hidden history behind this iconic American institution. Intrepid Girls will surprise, inspire and challenge what we think we know about the Girl Scouts.
Register by Monday, Jan. 26. Copies of the book may be ordered from UNC Press, Carlisle’s Whistlestop Bookshop or a bookstore near you. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants prior to the event.
