Lost girls : the invention of the flapper /

In her title Simon (emer., English, Skidmore College) reveals one of the most important findings of her research: the importance of girl as a descriptor of late-19th- and early-20th-century American young women. For Simon, the origins of the flapper of the 1920s are to be found in the social constructs and literature of the 19th century--as limned by writers such as Mark Twain, who was fascinated with adolescent and sometimes prepubescent girls, whom he dubbed "angelfish." Female adolescents fascinated US thinkers and leaders, most notably for their importance as the future wives and mothers of the nation. For 19th-century and early-20th-century American society, it was critical to control these wonderful young women so they could become the good mothers and wives that the nation needed. Simon sees the flappers of the 1920s as a reaction against the restrictions of the late-19th century. The upheaval of the post-WW I period made the existence of the flapper possible. Coupled with Joshua Zeitz's Flapper (2006), Lost Girls provides a complete account of the young women of the 1920s and their origins. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. --Martin William Quirk, Rock Valley College

Biographer (Chanel; William James; Alice B. Toklas), historian (The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus), and English professor (emerita, Skidmore Coll.) Simon charts the flapper's developmental years in this occasionally informative but often scattershot title. Containing sprawling statements such as "girls in the 1910s made fashion choices not to stand out, but to conceal and conform" and unfounded claims about the frequency of plastic surgery among women in the Teens and Twenties, the book includes a cast of hundreds, some of whom could have been cut from the production or rendered as footnotes. The author seems to assert that a handful of neurotic and/or unsavory males (including Mark Twain, Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie, and others) and some women (writers Anita Loos and Elinor Glyn, performers Colleen Moore and Irene Castle) were instrumental in the "invention" of flappers. Simon presents many intriguing minibios, parses the word flapper, discusses the suffragist movement in America and England, dissects theatrical and film influences on young women, and synopsizes several popular novels of the time. There's a lot of information here, but it doesn't connect effectively. Verdict A good springboard for further investigation and deeper research, this title bites off more than it can chew but introduces readers to a dazzling cast of flappers and proto-flappers and their observers and admirers.-Liz French, Library Journal © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A fresh, unique view of the iconic flapper.In her latest book, Simon (Emerita, English/Skidmore Coll.; The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus, 2014, etc.) digs beneath stereotype to provide an illuminating cultural study of "a new being" who "burst defiantly on to the cultural stage: skinny, young, impetuous and flirtatious." At this time, both Britain and the United States had more women than men, which helped empower women to, among other things, choose their own husbandsor even remain unmarried. Suddenly, women wanted more education than just art, embroidery, and music. They wanted the freedom to go out without a chaperone and rid themselves of constricting clothes like corsets. The end of the Victorian era saw the rumblings of female revolution against, among other thoughts, the belief that girls who taxed their brains took energy from their reproductive organs. Many felt threatened, frightened of changes in the status quo. The beginnings of the suffrage movement sparked a flame in womanhood. Though their fight was denigrated, change was inevitable. Flappers were a bit of an aberration in that they were perennial adolescents, seized "with the everlasting, inexorable desire to be girls." As Simon ably shows, psychologist G. Stanley Hall painted them as fresh, wild, nave, coquettish, innocent, and with little intellect. He believed that "a woman should be educated enough to understand her husband's world, but not enough to participate in the world." Additionally, the new silent movies, along with other trends in popular culture, showed strong, independent women. From J.M Barrie to Scott Fitzgerald to H.L. Mencken, from 1890s rebels to 1920s flappers, Simon cogently outlines a significant period of cultural life in the U.S. and Britain.A fascinating history of 30 years of trailblazing women who "invented a new image and identityin a culture where they were continually warned about the real lossesthat they might suffer if they acted upon their secret needs and desires." Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.