Childhood in Modern Europe

This invaluable introduction to the history of childhood in both Western and Eastern Europe between c.1700 and 2000 seeks to give a voice to children as well as adults, wherever possible. The work is divided into three parts, covering in turn, childhood in rural village societies during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; in the towns during the Industrial Revolution period (c.1750-1870); and in society generally during the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Each part has a succinct introduction to a number of key topics, such as conceptions of childhood; infant and child mortality; the material conditions of children; their cultural life; the welfare facilities available to them from charities and the state; and the balance of work and schooling. Combining a chronological with a thematic approach, this book will be of particular interest to students and academics in a number of disciplines, including history, sociology, anthropology, geography, literature and education.

'Historians have started to wrench childhood from the historical shadows and explore its social, cultural and economic aspects. The result is a burgeoning and diverse literature. Colin Heywood, one of the early contributors, has pulled this literature together, ranging over modern Europe and employing ideas and arguments from sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics and social policy. The result is a masterly survey, a necessary addition to the libraries of teachers and students alike. But Heywood goes beyond a historiographical review to challenge a complacent or Panglossian view of the history of childhood. The book hammers home what we (especially children) have gained but also suggests what we (and especially children again) might have lost: an important read.' Jane Humphries, University of Oxford

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