An authoritative history of the subject in a 6 volume series. The volumes cover Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Early Modern Age, the Enlightenment, the Age of Empire, and the Modern Age.

Few people living in 1900 could have imagined what life would be like for children and families by the start of the 21st Century. The 20th Century brought improved nutrition, widespread immunization, lower mortality rates, greater access to schooling, more opportunities for communication and learning, and better legal protection for children. However, these achievements should be balanced by a recognition of the failure to protect and promote "the best interests of the child" and the family over this period. Wars, economic depression, exploitation, commodification, abuse, and discrimination – on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, and class – all damaged children and families in the 20th Century. As with all the volumes in the Cultural History of Childhood and Family set, this volume presents an overview of the period and continues with essays on family relationships, community, economy, environment, education, life cycle, child and state, faith and religion, health and science, and world contexts.

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.

Examines how childhood and the family was constructed, experienced, understood and represented over time and across different cultures. Growing out of the field of gender history, the history of childhood and family has developed into a sub-specialty of its own rights with list-servs, international organisations, and journals. The time is ripe create a reference set that will put this research into context.

A Cultural History of Childhood and Family presents an authoritative survey of history, charting the cultural, social, economic, religious, medical and political changes in domestic life.

In this lively and accessible book, Colin Heywood explores the changing experiences and perceptions of childhood from the early Middle Ages to the beginning of the twentieth century. Heywood examines the different ways in which people have thought about childhood as a stage of life, the relationships of children with their families and peers, and the experiences of young people at work, in school and at the hands of various welfare institutions. The aim is to place the history of children and childhood firmly in its social and cultural context, without losing sight of the many individual experiences that have come down to us in diaries, autobiographies and oral testimonies. Heywood argues that there is a cruel paradox at the heart of childhood in the past. On the one hand, material conditions for children have generally improved in the West, however belatedly and unevenly, and they are now more valued than in the past. On the other hand, the business of preparing for adulthood has become more complicated in urban and industrial societies, as the young face a bewildering array of choices and expectations. A History of Childhood will be an essential introduction to the subject for students of history, the social sciences and cultural studies.

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.