Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood

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.

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.

Winner of the Merle Curti Award Sponsored by the Organization of American HistoriansWinner of the Carr P. Collins Award for the Best Book of Nonfiction, Texas Institute of LettersLike Huck’s raft, the experience of American childhood has been both adventurous and terrifying. Now, Steven Mintz gives us the first comprehensive history of American childhood.â�“Huck’s Raft is a major reinterpretation of the entire sweep of American history as seen through the eyes and experiences of children and adolescents. A highly original masterpiece which combines immense breadth with the often painful and complex specificity of ‘growing up in America.’” — David Brion Davis, author of Challenging the Boundaries of Slaveryâ�“[An] often fascinating and massively documented exploration of four centuries of American childhood ...Huck’s Raft is a work of scholarly integrity and humanist zeal.” — Joyce Carol Oates, Times Literary Supplementâ�“A rich and stimulating book, revealing how much childhood has changed over the centuries and how much some things never change.” — Michael Dirda, Washington Postâ�“An engaging, sober and often poignant account of how adults have viewed and treated children and, equally important, how children’s own experiences and life chances have been heavily influenced by economics, race and ethnicity ...[A] compelling history of childhood.” — Eric Arnesen, Chicago Tribune

'Steven Mintzis John and Rebecca MooresProfessor of History at the University of Houston.'

Preface

Prologue

1. Children of theCovenant

2. Red, White, and Black in ColonialAmerica

3. Sons and Daughters ofLiberty

4. Inventing the Middle-ClassChild

5. Growing Up inBondage

6. Childhood Battles of the CivilWar

7. LaboringChildren

8. Save theChild

9. Children under the MagnifyingGlass

10. New to the PromisedLand

11. Revolt of ModernYouth

12. Coming of Age in the GreatDepression

13. Mobilizing Children for World WarII

14. In Pursuit of the PerfectChildhood

15.Youthquake

16. Parental Panics and the Reshapingof Childhood

17. The Unfinished Century of theChild

Notes

Index