History of Childhood

Colin Heywood is Emeritus Professor of Modern French History at the University of Nottingham.

"This is a lively, accessible and compelling overview of how childhood has been thought about and experienced over the last 800 years. Grounded in recent scholarship it provides a very effective summary of key debates, approaches and themes. It is an excellent introduction to the topic for students, and essential reading for all those interested in the ways in which children's lives have changed for better or worse across time."Louise Jackson, University of Edinburgh "Anyone interested in the history of childhood will do well to start with Heywood's fine work. It covers necessary topics, like child labor, schooling and health, but also subtler ones including child agency, the relationship of children to good and evil and the "value" of children. It is also a great read."Carl Ipsen, Indiana University“Looking for a good book about childhood’s past, I waited for the new Second Edition of A History of Childhood. Although written with scholarly correctness, it’s accessible, and it turns out to be a pretty good story, too.”Howard Blumenthal, Digital Insider

• ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionPart I: Changing Conceptions of Childhood1 Conceptions of Childhood in the Middle Ages2 The Quest for a Turning Point3 Some Themes in the Cultural History of ChildhoodPart II: Growing up in the Family4 The Start of a New Life5 A Precarious Infancy6 Early Childhood, Age Two to Seven7 Later Childhood, Age Seven to FourteenPart III: Children in a Wider World8 Children at Work in Agricultural Societies9 Child Labour and Industrialization10 Children's Leisure Activities11 Children's Health11 The Child and the SchoolConclusionNotesSelect BibliographyIndex