Master Servant Childhood

An interdisciplinary synthesis that offers a new understanding of childhood in the Middle Ages as a form of master-servant relation embedded in an ancient sense of time as a correspondence between earthly change and eternal order.

An interdisciplinary synthesis that offers a new understanding of childhood in the Middle Ages as a form of master-servant relation embedded in an ancient sense of time as a correspondence between earthly change and eternal order.

An interdisciplinary synthesis that offers a new understanding of childhood in the Middle Ages as a form of master-servant relation embedded in an ancient sense of time as a correspondence between earthly change and eternal order.

This volume of 14 original essays by historians and literary scholars explores childhood and children's books in Early Modern Europe, 1550-1800. The collection aims to reposition childhood as a compelling presence in early modern imagination--a ready emblem of innocence, mischief, and playfulness. The essays offer a wide-ranging basis for reconceptualizing the development of a separate literature for children as central to evolving early modern concepts of human development and socialization. Among the topics covered are constructs of literacy as revealed by the figure of Goody Two Shoes, notions of pedagogy and academic standards, a reception study of children's reading based on book purchases made by Rugby school boys in the late eighteenth-century, an analysis of the first international best-seller for children, the abbe Pluche's Spectacle de la nature, and the commodification of child performers in Jacobean comedies.

Anthology of fiction and nonfiction works presenting society's views of children and childrearing practices in the United States from Colonial times to the present.

Colin Heywood's classic account of childhood from the early Middle Ages to the First World War combines a long-run historical perspective with a broad geographical spread. This new, comprehensively updated edition incorporates the findings of the most recent research, and in particular revises and expands the sections on theoretical developments in the 'new social studies of childhood', on medieval conceptions of the child, on parenting and on children’s literature. Rather than merely narrating their experiences from the perspectives of adults, Heywood incorporates children’s testimonies, 'looking up' as well as 'down'. Paying careful attention to elements of continuity as well as change, he tells a story of astonishing material improvement for the lives of children in advanced societies, while showing how the business of preparing for adulthood became more and more complicated and fraught with emotional difficulties. Rich with evocative details of everyday life, and providing the most concise and readable synthesis of the literature available, Heywood's book will be indispensable to all those interested in the study of childhood.

Childhood Denied: Ending the Nightmare of Child Abuse and Neglect is an exposé of how America ignores and often discards its most vulnerable children. Delving into the political, legal, and social factors of children at risk for abuse and neglect, it chronicles the plight of abused children across the nation and provides a "report card" for each U.S. state. With a practical, journalistic, and social scientific approach, this fervent book emboldens child welfare professionals, government representatives, lawmakers, child attorneys, law enforcers, and the general public to respond more effectively and consistently to the needs of children at risk. Features and Benefits Explores viable solutions to mitigate child abuse, such as legislative changes; quality of child protection services and foster care; training and education within the judicial system; and developing national standards Draws a clear distinction between questionable parenting practices and situations where children′s lives and health are consistently in jeopardy Employs a strong call to action and inspires readers to help end the cycle of abuse and neglect by addressing the core of the problem Created in collaboration with First Star – an organization that offers a nonpartisan, multidisciplinary approach – and provides a catalyst for change Intended Audience This inspiring book is a must-have for child welfare professionals, policymakers, attorneys, law enforcers as well as anyone devoted to helping children at risk. It is also an excellent supplement for courses in social work, government, politics, and law.

This book explores the experience of childhood and adolescence in later medieval English rural society from 1250 to 1450. Hit by major catastrophes – the Great Famine and then a few decades later the Black Death – this book examines how rural society coped with children left orphaned, and land inherited by children and adolescents considered too young to run their holdings. Using manorial court rolls, accounts and other documents, Miriam Müller looks at the guardians who looked after the children, and the chattels and lands the children brought with them. This book considers not just rural concepts of childhood, and the training and schooling young peasants received, but also the nature of supportive kinship networks, family structures and the roles of lordship, to offer insights into the experience of childhood and adolescence in medieval villages more broadly.