The Invention Of Childhood

An interesting and very broad chronological survey of childhood in Britain since medieval times. I do have a quibble with one of the claims, that home education as a practice was killed off by the more difficult economic times in the 1970s - this is outdated and might be even wrong as well. (pp. 225......more

This made for an interesting listen. We certainly have made some progress in how we view and raise children, but we still have a long way to go. Most important, I think, is that children need a voice. There are always adults who debate about what's best for the children, but we seldom ask children w......more

Based on the Radio 4 series, this was my idea of heaven. I love social history (and children) and found the use of primary sources quite exceptional. This was the best sort of social history, in from experiments prompted by Rousseau and Locke, to chapbooks about The Pendle Witches and Victorian gutt......more

I knew going in that this was going to be limited to European history - I didn't realize it was going to be limited specifically to British history, which is just a 12-hour extended cut of the opening of Picnic at Hanging Rock before they ever get to leave the school, where everyone's just bitchy wi......more

This is exactly the kind of social and cultural history that I used to love before becoming a professional historian. Broad sweep of time, good use of individual anecdotes, very sparing on the statistics, it gives a good sense of the continuities that link childhood in the Middle Ages with childhood......more