Writing a book can be hard, lonely work. Fortunately, I had help and support throughout the process, appearing as if by magic precisely in the form required at the moment. Indiana University Press encouraged me to build on my first book, Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America, and continues to be a wonderful partner. Karin Bohleke, director of the Fashion Archives and Museum at Shippensburg University, was generous with her time and energy, providing access to their marvelous collection and assistance with many of the images for the book. Philip Cohen, Susan Kaiser, and Eliza Buchakjian-Tweedy commented on the project at various stages in ways that were both constructive and encouraging. I am enormously grateful to the College of Arts and Humanities and the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland for a grant that reduced my financial burden.
I wish to express my love and thanks to all the communities that sustain me. My students challenge and teach me every day, and my colleagues across campus and around the world have been good listeners and excellent advisers. My spiritual community, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, truly gave me roots and wings as needed. Every writer needs a break, and mine usually came courtesy of the “regulars” at Franklin’s Restaurant, Brewery, and General Store—my Friday evening retreat for excellent conversation, on- and off-topic. Finally, my family deserves special thanks for their patience and forbearance over the last two years, for all the times I had to say “later” instead of “yes.”