Moxie and a Good Sense of Balance : Nancy Drew and the Power of the Teenage Girl

Moxie and a Good Sense of Balance acknowledges the fictional character of Nancy Drew as a role model for young women of the twenty-first century; an independent young woman, willing to take on injustices in her world. She is a sister of contemporary female detectives Veronica Mars and Jessica Jones.

Although there have been numerous books written about the fictional character, Nancy Drew, this book includes as analysis of Nancy Drew as a proto-feminist role model for young women in the twenty-first century. I have chosen to focus on the initial iteration of the Nancy Drew character, which was first introduced in 1929: Nancy Drew as an intelligent, independent young woman who reflected the world of her cohort as well as the adult world of criminality. In addition, this book examines the societal context in which this book was first introduced, and lends a perspective as to why the Nancy Drew series became so popular. As a lecturer in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and a scholar in women’s history in the United States, as well as a life-long fan of Nancy Drew, I am uniquely qualified to write this book. As mentioned previously, much has been written about Nancy Drew, the author of the series, Carolyn Keene, and publisher of the series, Edward Stratemeyer and his Stratemeyer Syndicate; however, the conversation regarding Nancy Drew as a feminist role model is one that needs to be continued, especially within the context of the #Me Too Movement. Since the most recent volume about Nancy Drew was published in 2008, this volume will serve as a more recent contribution to the conversation, one that can take place within the classroom in the form of a textbook and source guide.