Libsyn Directory

American Girl at 40: Revising Kirsten, Indigenous Representation, and Playing School with History

Release Date: 02/03/2026

American Girl at 40: Revising Kirsten, Indigenous Representation, and Playing School with History

Dolls of Our Lives

Hello, Dolls of Our Lives listeners! I'm so excited to share my new podcast with you! I hope you'll join me on Landline with Mary Mahoney. Consider it a place for pop culture with context. It'll have the same fun energy as Dolls of Our Lives, just with a wider berth of topics (i.e. everything that interests us in pop culture, past and present). I'm calling you on a new number, but I hope you recognize the voice. I can't wait to keep talking with you. ~Mary PS For my first episode, I started with a longtime interest of mine (and yours!) American Girl is turning 40 this year (same,...

Seeing the American Girl Store Through Silver Eyes

Dolls of Our Lives

In October, we set out one morning for NYC to take a VIP tour of the American Girl Store. What happened next cannot be described in a mere text box. Did we do a photoshoot on a train? Did we learn about a heretofore unknown to us diagnosis? Did we read the main floor display of the store through the lens of 90s figure skating? Listen as we explore the store, visit the doll hospital, fix a hair crisis, and more. Original air date: January 27, 2020

50 Shades of Red, White, and Blue (Ann Rinaldi's first and most unforgettable historical romance: Time Enough for Drums (1986)

Dolls of Our Lives

Clear your calendars. Burn a chakra candle. Prepare yourself for the greatest love story that never needed to be told. Join us as we tackle Ann Rinaldi's first and most unforgettable historical romance: Time Enough for Drums (1986). The cover poses the question: "Can Jem ever love a Tory?" Please trust us that this will be the lowest on your list of questions after following along with our Rinaldi read. Original air date: February 28, 2020

Little Women

Dolls of Our Lives

Buckle up for a real ride. We're taking you on an Alcott odyssey. First, we talk about the latest film adaptation of Little Women and ponder questions like: why didn't Greta Gerwig win ....everything? Is Thoreau a precursor to tiny house builders everywhere? We play a spirited game of scam or real Bronson Alcott business endeavor, and perhaps most importantly, report on recent communications by Comrade Spears Original air date: March 31, 2020

This is Not a Drill: Dear America: Voyage on the Great Titanic

Dolls of Our Lives

This month our Patreon bonus features commentary on *Dear America: Voyage on the Great Titanic.*We talk about the iceberg-level cultural fascination with the ship, the Titanic Historical Society, and survivors' videos on Youtube. The Titanic documentary we discuss can be found here: Original Air Date: April 20, 2020

Open Book by Jessica Simpson

Dolls of Our Lives

Ashlee Simpson may have gifted us with her "Autobiography," but on this episode we take a deep dive into Jessica Simpson's latest memoir, Open Book. We discuss memoir as a form, Newlyweds, the Nick Lachey of it all, the toxicity that is John Mayer, and more. Original air date: May 29, 2020

Marsha, Marsha, Andre

Dolls of Our Lives

This Pride month, we chose to cover three biographical projects that focus on Black queer experiences. First, we talk about two different approaches to presenting the life of Marsha P. Johnson, an important activist involved in the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn. With the Drunk History episode " and the short film "" we see two paths to sharing Johnson's story & her connection to Pride. We also talk about the gaps in the documentary - a recent study of the icon Andre Leon Talley. Join us for this look at the man called "the Kofi Annan of what you've got on" and the woman who...

Allison and Mary’s Great Idea

Dolls of Our Lives

On this episode, we talk the first Babysitter's Club book and the latest Netflix adaptation. We talk about which member of the BSC we identified with as young readers and how we feel now, and much more. This episode is dedicated to Grandma Mimi, forever prom queen. Due to Covid restrictions, we were not able to record this in Stoneybrook, CT. Original air date: July 24, 2020

Full House: A Jane Addams Mystery

Dolls of Our Lives

When author Frances McNamara isn't "sailing on the Charles River in Boston or beaching on Cape Cod," she's dropping red herrings & killing characters living in 1890s Chicago. Join us as we talk about "Death at Hull House," McNamara's second Emily Cabot Mystery. This former librarian has a brand (Progressive-era crime solving in Illinois) and we respect it. Grab a spare chair from a settlement house near you and settle in for a discussion on death, intrigue, and smallpox. Curious about what's coming next? We will be reading A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember...

Dear America, Did you read The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple?

Dolls of Our Lives

. . . .Well, we seem to have not remembered and this story may have tested our patience. In this episode, we re-read the first Dear America book, set on and off the Mayflower in 1620-1621. Protagonist/diarist Remember a.k.a."Mem" experiences a lot of hardship and seasickness in this 1996 ribboned classic. She gets jealous when her friend is the "first" to step on Plymouth Rock and that's just the beginning. In our coverage, we talk about life in the 1600s, the limits of historical fiction, and representations of indigenous life in "pilgrim" stories. Want to learn more re-indigenizing...

More Episodes

PS For my first episode, I started with a longtime interest of mine (and yours!)

American Girl is turning 40 this year (same, honestly), and with that milestone comes some reckoning with their original books. A few years ago, they quietly released revised editions of some classics, including "Kirsten Learns a Lesson"—the book where Swedish immigrant Kirsten befriends an Indigenous girl named Singing Bird, they somehow communicate without language, and then Singing Bird's family just...leaves Minnesota voluntarily at the end. For my first episode of Landline, I call up Colette Denalie Dion Montoya, an indigenous researcher and librarian, to help me understand what American Girl changed in the new edition and whether swapping out words like "savage" actually addresses the deeply colonial narrative at the heart of this story. We talk about representation, nostalgia versus history, the insidious ways racism gets re-coded, and why Pleasant Rowland collaborating with Barbie feels like a betrayal.

Timestamps

00:00 — Why American Girl Made Millennials Like This

Main character energy, history-as-personality, and the doll books that rewired our brains.

07:00 — “American Girl Is in Its Hot Mess Era”

Mattel, quiet revisions, and why the 40th anniversary feels… tense.

12:00 — The Plot of Kirsten Learns a Lesson (Red Flags Included)

Secret forest meetings, “Indian friends,” and who gets to claim land as “home.”

23:30 — What American Girl Changed (and What They Didn’t)

From “savages” to “treaties”: how blame quietly moves off settlers and onto “the government.”

38:00 — Nostalgia vs. History: Why revisions, Barbie collabs, and 90s dolls reveal what the brand values now.

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