Dolls of Our Lives

Last updated
Dolls of Our Lives
American Girls Podcast.png
Presentation
Hosted byAllison Horrocks & Mary Mahoney
Genrehistory and pop culture
Publication
Original release2019
Related
Website www.americangirlspod.com

Dolls of Our Lives (formerly American Girls Podcast) is a podcast hosted by Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney in which the hosts revisit the American Girl book series they loved as children.

In each episode, Horrocks and Mahoney discuss one book from the series, contextualizing the story presented and drawing connections with elements of pop culture, including Fyre Festival, Britney Spears, and The Bachelor. They are proceeding through the series chronologically in history, starting with Felicity Merriman, a character set in the American Revolution. [1]

Horrocks and Mahoney were inspired to start the American Girls podcast while studying for their Ph.Ds in history at the University of Connecticut, where they became friends and bonded over their mutual love for the American Girl series. They met many other women who had been inspired by the books, and the podcast launched in February 2019. [2] Horrocks, a park ranger at Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Mahoney, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, produce episodes twice a month. [3]

The podcast has received positive attention from publications like The New York Times , [1] the Los Angeles Review of Books' Podcast Review, [4] A.V. Club, [5] Marie Claire, [6] Book Riot, [7] and the Paris Review . [8] The podcast has been lauded by Book Riot for its thorough analysis, [7] by the Paris Review for its combination of pop culture and historical commentary, [8] and by the Los Angeles Review of Books' Podcast Review for "modelling the type of friendship listeners value, hope for, and vicariously participate in." [4] Margaret Lyons writes for the New York Times that Horrocks and Mahoney are "funny and knowledgeable" and address expansive topics: "The hosts toss off St. Augustine quotes, but also deeply engage with 'The Bachelorette,' wonder whether Ben Franklin’s propagandist side would have flourished in a Fyre Festival context and discuss the history of neurasthenia when Felicity’s mother falls ill with an unnamed disease." [1]

Within the American Girl fandom, reception was more negative, with listeners stunned by the cynical, [9] judgmental tone. Tumblr bloggers such as desertdollranch and in-pleasant-company criticized episodes where the books were analyzed through a 21st century lens [10] instead of taking the historical settings in context, fanfiction writers were mocked, [11] and the misogynist tone of episodes such as the one where Felicity's mother's serious illness was dismissed as a ploy to get out of doing housework. [12]

The podcast was also accused of stealing a post created by in-pleasant-company, and using it in an advertisement for the podcast. [13]

A book by the hosts Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can't Quit American Girl was announced in April 2023. [14] The book is being published by Macmillan Publishing and will release November 7, 2023. [15]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Lyons, Margaret (23 August 2019). "'American Girl' & Me". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  2. ↑ Basler, Cassandra (2019-12-23). "How The American Girl Dolls Inspired A Cult Podcast". WSHU Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2019-12-24. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  3. ↑ Bartucca, Julie (2019-12-04). "It's a(n American) Girl Thing". UConn Today. Archived from the original on 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  4. 1 2 Beehler, Brianna (2020-01-24). "The Wild World of American Girls". Podcast Review. Archived from the original on 2020-02-14. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  5. ↑ McNaught, Morgan (2019-09-23). "Hate those electric scooters? Pessimists Archive presents 100 years of other people hating scooters, too". AV Club. Archived from the original on 2019-09-25. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  6. ↑ Jones, Alexis; Roberts, Kayleigh; Rodriguez, Bianca (2019-11-15). "The Best New Podcasts You Should Be Listening To". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  7. 1 2 Handscombe, Claire (2019-11-24). "5 Bookish Podcasts We Discovered in 2019". Book Riot. Archived from the original on 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  8. 1 2 Hitt, Elinor (2020-01-24). "Staff Picks: Dolls, Dakar, and Doomsday Preppers". The Paris Review. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  9. ↑ Desert Doll Ranch (August 2019). "The Doll Ranch".
  10. ↑ "Hi! I don't mean to bring this up when it looks like you've answered a couple of asks about it already, but I was wondering if you could elaborate on how American Girls Podcast is misogynist? I just want to do my due diligence and I'm wondering if I missed something in the first few episodes I listened to. Thanks! :)". In Pleasant Company.
  11. ↑ "What are your favorite podcasts? Do you know of any American Girl podcasts?". In Pleasant Company.
  12. ↑ "The Doll Ranch". Desert Doll Ranch. April 2020.
  13. ↑ "It looks like the post was removed but there was". In Pleasant Company.
  14. ↑ "Dolls of Our Lives". Instagram. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  15. ↑ Mahoney, Mary; Horrocks, Allison (7 November 2023). Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can't Quit American Girl. Macmillan. p. 256. ISBN   9781250792839.
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