20th century history
20th century Southern culture
A01=Amy Erdman Farrell
African American girls
Author_Amy Erdman Farrell
Boy Scouts of America
Camp Ledgewood
Category=JBSF1
Category=NHK
Category=NHTB
Communism and Red Scare
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
feminism
gender identities
Girl Scouts of the USA
history of girlhood in the United States
Japanese internment camps
Jim Crow laws
Juliette Gordon Low
Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace
Lord Robert Baden Powell
Lost Cause myth
Native American boarding schools
proto-feminism
racial discrimination
transgender rights
U.S. empire
Product details
- ISBN 9781469686837
- Dimensions: 25 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 28 Oct 2025
- Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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When eight-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 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 when she joined a Girl Scout troop. Decades later, award-winning author Farrell 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 5 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 throughout 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.
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.
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 5 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 throughout 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.
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.
Amy Erdman Farrell is professor of American studies and women's, gender, and sexuality studies and the James Hope Caldwell Memorial Chair of American Culture at Dickinson College.
