Life Like Dolls: The Collector Doll Phenomenon and the Lives of the Women Who Love Them

by A.F. Robertson

Since the 1980s there has been a growing billion dollar business producing porcelain collectible dolls. Avertised in Sunday newspapers and mailbox fliers, even Marie Osmond, an avid collector herself, is now promoting her own line of dolls on the Home Shopping Network and sales are soaring. With average price tags of $100 -- and $500 or more for a handcrafted or limited edition doll -- these dolls strike a chord in the hearts of middle-aged and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415944511
• ISBN13: 9780415944519
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating study of an overlooked group

This book occupies a strange position between popular nonfiction and academic writing: It's a well-researched, careful study of porcelain collectors' dolls and the women who collect them, but it's written in a way that is very personal and immediate. It caused me to look at my own collecting behaviors in a new way. The conclusion could reach further, but otherwise I found the entire book surprisingly fascinating. If you're interested in anthropological research, women's studies, consumerism, toys, dolls, human evolution, geriatrics, family studies, or art, then consider this book. It will start you thinking, and you'll never flip past the doll ads in magazines again without taking a close look.