Overview

Between 1914 and 1918, American children were mobilized to support the war effort through youth organizations such as the American Junior Red Cross and the United States School Garden Army. Operating across local, state, and federal levels-and often using schools as their primary platform, these organizations pursued multiple agendas, including fostering loyalty, altruism, and patriotism. While some viewed this movement as an effort to cultivate humanitarian values from an early age, others seized the opportunity presented by the European war to promote a broader sense of American identity and foster a stronger sense of belonging among the diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups that populated the United States. Blending social, cultural, and political history, Emmanuel Destenay sheds light on the unparalleled contribution American children made through World War I to protect the nation, and analyzes why adults campaigned tirelessly for children's hearts, minds, and energies during wartime.

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9781009769747

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Reviews

'Uncle Sam's Little Soldiers sheds powerful new light on the diverse political, social and economic motives behind the mobilization and militarization of American children during wartime, while exploring how participating in the war effort impacted children's lives, identities and relationship to the nation. Meticulously researched and vividly written, this ambitious history uses childhood as a lens through which to re-examine US society during a period of both profound geopolitical crisis and domestic transformation. Destenay's best work yet.' Anita Casavantes Bradford, author of Suffer the Little Children: Child Migration and the Geopolitics of Compassion in the United States 'In this remarkable book, Emmanuel Destenay recovers the experiences of American youth during the First World War, showing how and why adults worked to mobilize this key segment of the population. Focusing on children's many diverse activities for the US war effort, both on the home-front and in Europe, Destenay reveals how an entire nation participated in this pivotal conflict.' Julia F. Irwin, author of Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction 'Uncle Sam's Little Soldiers is easily the most significant study we have of children's mobilization in the United States during World War One. Engagingly written, impressively researched, and smartly argued, the book sheds much needed light on the crucial role played by young people in Uncle Sam's 'war to end war.' Brian Rouleau, author of Empire's Nursery: Children's Literature and the Origins of the American Century

Author Information

Emmanuel Destenay is a Research Fellow at Sorbonne University. He is the author of Shadows from the Trenches: Veterans of the Great War and the Irish Revolution (1918–1923) (2021) and America's French Orphans: Mobilization, Humanitarianism, and the Protection of France, 1914–1921 (2024).

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