Reviews of Vey's book, Childhood and Nineteenth-Century American Theatre (2015).
“[M]eticulously researched study … contributes … to the social history of American childhood … makes a significant contribution.”Arrighi, Gillian. Theatre Annual 69 (2016): 107-09: ISSN 0082 3821
“An engaging chronicle of a journeyman group of child actors, providing valuable insights … insightful contextualization and interpretation.” Bunch, Ryan. The Lion and the Unicorn 40:1 (January 2016): 124-27. http://muse.jhu.edu/article/621257
"The characters in this book are irresistible … a successful book that combines the fields of theatrical history, childhood studies, and American cultural studies to fashion something larger: a challenge to what we think we know about all three disciplines.” Chinn, Sarah E. Journal of Social History 51:1 (September 2017): 181-183. doi: 10.1093/jsh/shw074
http://jsh.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/07/27/jsh.shw074.extract
“A rare treat” that “bring[s] to life the rich atmosphere and rough-and-tumble nature of popular theatre in a time of significant social transition” and examines “Issues about working children relevant then and now. … a model of superb scholarship.” Fisher, J. Choice 53:09 (American Library Association, May 2016) doi: 10.5860/CHOICE.196511CHOICE May 2016 vol. 53 no. 09 <<http://www.cro3.org/content/53/09/53-3887.full
“[O]f immense value to those studying the shifting cultural and financial value of children in the mid-nineteenth century. … An established theatre historian, Vey … has situated the material into a broader context through which to examine the economics of child labour.” Huntington, Eleanor. Childhood in the Past 9:2 (2016): 142-3. Published online: 9/5/2016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17585716.2016.1205892
“She initiates theatre scholars into the theoretical frameworks of childhood studies … successfully challenges romanticized tropes of childhood innocence … Vey’s remarkable text reminds us that the capitalist-driven labors of child actors deserve far more recognition, respect, and celebration.” Klein, Jeanne. Theatre Journal 68:3 (September 2016): 496-497. doi: 10.1353/tj.2016.0100
“a fascinating history … engages with a series of larger thematic concerns… an exceptional view into the economic position of the child within cultures of labor and apprenticeship.” Lamb, Edel. The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 10:1 (Winter 2017), pp. 139-141 | 10.1353/hcy.2017.0014
“exemplary work … a model of superb scholarship. Vey’s book is required reading for scholars interested in American Studies, theatre history, and childhood studies.” McCutchen, Camille. The Journal of American Culture, 40:4 (December 2017), pp. 417-418. DOI: 10.1111/jacc.12814.
“Far from being a narrowly focused niche study, her microhistory … demonstrates how such research can bring together histories of childhood, youth, and the family, performance, and labor and working-class history to enrich and deepen our understanding of nineteenth-century theatre.” Morgan, Cecilia. Theatre Survey, 57:3 (Sept. 2016): 480-481. doi:10.1017/S0040557416000545
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/-childhood-and-nineteenth-century-american-theatre-the-work-of-the-marsh-troupe-of-juvenile-actors-by-shauna-vey-theater-in-the-americas-carbondale-southern-illinois-university-press-2015-pp-xv-224-15-illustrations-40-cloth-40-e-book/9604FD0C19280D97BBCB057F19A98BD6
“Vey teases out useful historical insights … conducts three compelling close readings of the trace elements left behind … cleverly deconstructs the rural cemetery in Georgia… provides a fresh perspective.”
Turner, Jeff. Theatre History Studies 36 (2017), pp. 346-348. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/679369/summary
“She uses her findings to interrogate cultural constructions of childhood … bringing her discussion of this nineteenth-century phenomenon into present-day politics. … It is only on the basis of Vey’s scholarly rigor that such questions become possible; they are themselves evidence of the vitality and significance of this study. This is a highly successful enterprise in microhistory.” Varty, Anne. Comparative Drama, 51:2 (Summer 2017), pp. 243-244 | 10.1353/cdr.2017.0021
“An engaging chronicle of a journeyman group of child actors, providing valuable insights … insightful contextualization and interpretation.” Bunch, Ryan. The Lion and the Unicorn 40:1 (January 2016): 124-27. http://muse.jhu.edu/article/621257
"The characters in this book are irresistible … a successful book that combines the fields of theatrical history, childhood studies, and American cultural studies to fashion something larger: a challenge to what we think we know about all three disciplines.” Chinn, Sarah E. Journal of Social History 51:1 (September 2017): 181-183. doi: 10.1093/jsh/shw074
http://jsh.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/07/27/jsh.shw074.extract
“A rare treat” that “bring[s] to life the rich atmosphere and rough-and-tumble nature of popular theatre in a time of significant social transition” and examines “Issues about working children relevant then and now. … a model of superb scholarship.” Fisher, J. Choice 53:09 (American Library Association, May 2016) doi: 10.5860/CHOICE.196511CHOICE May 2016 vol. 53 no. 09 <<http://www.cro3.org/content/53/09/53-3887.full
“[O]f immense value to those studying the shifting cultural and financial value of children in the mid-nineteenth century. … An established theatre historian, Vey … has situated the material into a broader context through which to examine the economics of child labour.” Huntington, Eleanor. Childhood in the Past 9:2 (2016): 142-3. Published online: 9/5/2016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17585716.2016.1205892
“She initiates theatre scholars into the theoretical frameworks of childhood studies … successfully challenges romanticized tropes of childhood innocence … Vey’s remarkable text reminds us that the capitalist-driven labors of child actors deserve far more recognition, respect, and celebration.” Klein, Jeanne. Theatre Journal 68:3 (September 2016): 496-497. doi: 10.1353/tj.2016.0100
“a fascinating history … engages with a series of larger thematic concerns… an exceptional view into the economic position of the child within cultures of labor and apprenticeship.” Lamb, Edel. The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 10:1 (Winter 2017), pp. 139-141 | 10.1353/hcy.2017.0014
“exemplary work … a model of superb scholarship. Vey’s book is required reading for scholars interested in American Studies, theatre history, and childhood studies.” McCutchen, Camille. The Journal of American Culture, 40:4 (December 2017), pp. 417-418. DOI: 10.1111/jacc.12814.
“Far from being a narrowly focused niche study, her microhistory … demonstrates how such research can bring together histories of childhood, youth, and the family, performance, and labor and working-class history to enrich and deepen our understanding of nineteenth-century theatre.” Morgan, Cecilia. Theatre Survey, 57:3 (Sept. 2016): 480-481. doi:10.1017/S0040557416000545
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/-childhood-and-nineteenth-century-american-theatre-the-work-of-the-marsh-troupe-of-juvenile-actors-by-shauna-vey-theater-in-the-americas-carbondale-southern-illinois-university-press-2015-pp-xv-224-15-illustrations-40-cloth-40-e-book/9604FD0C19280D97BBCB057F19A98BD6
“Vey teases out useful historical insights … conducts three compelling close readings of the trace elements left behind … cleverly deconstructs the rural cemetery in Georgia… provides a fresh perspective.”
Turner, Jeff. Theatre History Studies 36 (2017), pp. 346-348. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/679369/summary
“She uses her findings to interrogate cultural constructions of childhood … bringing her discussion of this nineteenth-century phenomenon into present-day politics. … It is only on the basis of Vey’s scholarly rigor that such questions become possible; they are themselves evidence of the vitality and significance of this study. This is a highly successful enterprise in microhistory.” Varty, Anne. Comparative Drama, 51:2 (Summer 2017), pp. 243-244 | 10.1353/cdr.2017.0021