Synopses & Reviews
A Cultural History of Childhood and Family presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. This set of six volumes covers 2800 years of history, charting the cultural, social, economic, religious, medical and political changes in domestic life.
1. A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in Antiquity Edited by Mary Harlow and Ray Laurence, both University of Birmingham
2. A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in the Middle Ages Edited by Louise J. Wilkinson, Canterbury Christ Church University
3. A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in the Early Modern Age Edited by Sandra Cavallo, Royal Holloway, University of London, and Silvia Evangelisti, University of East Anglia
4. A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in the Age of Enlightenment Edited by Elizabeth Foyster, University of Cambridge, and James Marten, Marquette University, Milwaukee
5. A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in the Age of Empire Edited by Colin Heywood, University of Nottingham
6. A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in the Modern Age Edited by Joseph M. Hawes, University of Memphis, and N. Ray Hiner, University of Kansas
Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters: 1. Family Relationships; 2; Community; 3. Economy; 4. Geography and the Environment; 5. Education; 6. Life Cycle; 7. The State; 8. Faith and Religion; 9. Health and Science; 10. World Contexts.
This means readers can either have a broad overview of a period by reading a volume or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Well illustrated, the full six volume set combines to present the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on family and childhood through history.
Synopsis
The collection of ideas, values, and beliefs known as the Enlightenment fundamentally altered the ways in which the family was understood. During this period, 1650-1800, traditional family roles were rethought, questioning much which had been taken for granted, such as the innate nature of children. At the same time, the Enlightenment also reinforced many long-held notions, applying new ideas to perpetuate assumptions about gender and race.
The commercialization of agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization, as well as the opportunities presented by expanding education and the sale of domestic goods all impacted on the family. Further, the continuing expansion of Western empires, the ownership of slaves within American states, and the political turmoil of the American and French revolutions all helped to shape both the ideals and the experience of family life.
As with all the volumes in the illustrated Cultural History of Childhood and Family set, this volume presents essays on family relationships, community, economy, geography and the environment, education, life cycle, the state, faith and religion, health and science, and world contexts.
About the Author
Elizabeth Foyster is Senior Lecturer in History at Clare College, University of Cambridge, UK. She is author of Manhood in Early Modern England: Honour, Sex and Marriage and Marital Violence:An English Family History, 1660-1857 and editor with Helen Berry of The Family in Early Modern England.
James Marten is Professor and Chair of the History Department at Marquette University in Milwaukee,Wisconsin, USA. He is author / editor of Children and Youth in a New Nation; Children in Colonial America; Childhood and Child Welfare in the Progressive Era: A Brief History with Documents; Children and War: A Historical Anthology; and The Childrens Civil War.
Table of Contents
Illustrations
General Editors Preface
Introduction
Elizabeth Foyster, University of Cambridge, UK and James Marten, University of Milwaukee, USA
1 Family Relationships
Joanne Bailey, Oxford Brookes University, UK
2 Community
Alysa Levene, Oxford Brookes University, UK
3 Economy
Deborah Simonton, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
4 Geography and the Environment
Giorgio Riello, University of Warwick, UK
5 Education
Valentina K. Tikoff, DePaul University in Chicago, USA
6 Life Cycle
Mary Abbott, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
7 The State
Steven King, University of Leicester, UK
8 Faith and Religion
Allison P. Coudert, University of California Davis, USA
9 Health and Science
Mary Lindemann, University of Miami, USA
10 World Contexts
Adriana Silvia Benzaquén, Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Index