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In this comprehensive history of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), one of the oldest and most important women’s organizations in United States history, Simon Wendt shows how the DAR’s efforts to keep alive the memory of the nation’s past were entangled with and strengthened the nation’s racial and gender boundaries. Taking a close look at the DAR’s mission of bolstering national loyalty, Wendt reveals paradoxes and ambiguities in its activism. While the Daughters engaged in patriotic actions long believed to be the domain of men and challenged male-centered accounts of US nation-building, their tales about the past reinforced traditional notions of femininity and masculinity, reflecting a belief that any challenge to these conventions would jeopardize the country’s stability. Similarly, they frequently voiced support for inclusive civic nationalism but deliberately shaped historical memory to consolidate white supremacy. Using archival sources from across the country, Wendt focuses on the DAR’s most visible work after its founding in 1890—its commemorations of the American Revolution, western expansion, and Native Americans. He also explores the organization’s post–World War II history, a time that saw major challenges to its conservative vision of America’s “imagined community.” This book sheds new light on the remarkable agency and cultural authority of conservative white women in the twentieth century.

The American Magazine was founded in June 1906, having been bought from publishing magnate Miriam Leslie as American Illustrated Magazine. It had begun life as popular literary magazine Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (1876-1904), succeeded by Leslie's Monthly Magazine (1904-1905) and then Leslie's Magazine (1905), but upon its acquisition in 1906 it was reborn as a platform for investigative journalism. Over the next nine years the publication fielded accusations of 'muckraking', and eventually made a shift back to its literary roots. A renewed focus on illustrated fiction, accompanied by human interest stories and social issues, saw The American Magazine begin to appeal to a much broader audience and by September 1922 it boasted a reported monthly circulation of 1.8 million readers.