Dolls have long been perceived as symbols of domesticity, maternity, and materialism, designed by men and loved by girls who wanted to "play house." In this engagingly written and illustrated social history of the American doll industry, Miriam Formanek-Brunell shows that this has not always been the case. Drawing on a wide variety of contemporary sources-including popular magazines, advertising, autobiographies, juvenile literature, patents, photographs, and the dolls themselves-Formanek-Brunell traces the history of the doll industry back to its beginnings, a time when American men, women,...