Title Huck's raft : a history of American childhood / Steven Mintz

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 445 pages) : illustrations Contents Children of the covenant -- Red, white, and black in colonial America -- Sons and daughters of liberty -- Inventing the middle-class child -- Growing up in bondage -- Childhood battles of the Civil War -- Laboring children -- Save the child -- Children under the magnifying glass -- New to the promised land -- Revolt of modern youth -- Coming of age in the Great Depression -- Mobilizing children for World War II -- In pursuit of the perfect childhood -- Youthquake -- Parental panics and the reshaping of childhood -- The unfinished century of the child Summary Publisher description: Like Huck's raft, the experience of American childhood has been both adventurous and terrifying. For more than three centuries, adults have agonized over raising children while children have followed their own paths to development and expression. Now, Steven Mintz gives us the first comprehensive history of American childhood encompassing both the child's and the adult's tumultuous early years of life. Underscoring diversity through time and across regions, Mintz traces the transformation of children from the sinful creatures perceived by Puritans to the productive workers of nineteenth-century farms and factories, from the cosseted cherubs of the Victorian era to the confident consumers of our own. He explores their role in revolutionary upheaval, westward expansion, industrial growth, wartime mobilization, and the modern welfare state. Revealing the harsh realities of children's lives through history--the rigors of physical labor, the fear of chronic ailments, the heartbreak of premature death--he also acknowledges the freedom children once possessed to discover their world as well as themselves. Whether at work or play, at home or school, the transition from childhood to adulthood has required generations of Americans to tackle tremendously difficult challenges. Today, adults impose ever-increasing demands on the young for self-discipline, cognitive development, and academic achievement, even as the influence of the mass media and consumer culture has grown. With a nod to the past, Mintz revisits an alternative to the goal-driven realities of contemporary childhood. An odyssey of psychological self-discovery and growth, this book suggests a vision of childhood that embraces risk and freedom--like the daring adventure on Huck's raft Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-436) and index Notes English Print version record Subject Children -- United States -- History Child rearing -- United States -- History Children -- United States -- Social conditions Children. Social history. Group identity. Child rearing. History. Sociology. Humanities. Medical care. Human behavior. Social sciences. Child Social Conditions -- history Socioeconomic Factors Social Conditions Social Identification Child Rearing History, Modern 1601- Age Groups History Sociology Population Characteristics Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Social Behavior Humanities Psychiatry and Psychology Delivery of Health Care Behavior Persons Social Sciences Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena Named Groups Child Rearing -- history History, Early Modern 1451-1600 Patient Care children (people by age group) social history. group identity. history (discipline) sociology. humanities. human behavior. social sciences. Sociology Social sciences Social history Medical care Humanities Human behavior History Group identity Child rearing Children Children -- Social conditions Manners and customs Soziale Situation Kind Alltag Jeugd. Jeugdjaren. Opvoeding. SUBJECT United States -- Social life and customs. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140527 United States Subject United States USA Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 0674019989 9780674019980

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