toys

American Girl Dolls Declare the 1990s Ancient History

Gen X or Milennial parents who buy their children some of the popular dolls-with-a-back-story are in for some bad news about how long ago their own childhoods were. 

The Secret History of G.I. Joe

by Tom Engelhardt

Credit: Wiki Commons.Originally posted in two parts on TomDispatch.com 1. The First Coming of G.I. JoeIt was 1964, and in Vietnam thousands of American “advisers” were already offering up their know-how from helicopter seats or gun sights. The United States was just a year short of sending its first large contingent of ground troops there, adolescents who would enter the battle zone dreaming of John Wayne and thinking of enemy-controlled territory as “Indian country.” Meanwhile, in that inaugural year of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, a new generation of children began to experience the American war story via the most popular toy warrior ever created.