Cultures of Child Health in Britain and the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century

Book excerpt: The health and welfare of children became an area of concern and action in the early decades of the twentieth century. This concern would develop an ever-broader remit during the course of the century, moving from anxiety about high death rates, physical health and the 'unfit', to embrace all children and the mental health and the psychological well-being of individuals. This volume emerged out of an Anglo-Dutch Workshop held at the University of Warwick in July 1999, and is the first book to explore child health in the twentieth century in a comparative perspective, focussing on such issues as the link between child health and citizenship, the impact of ideas concerning degeneracy, socialisation, consumerism and children's rights, and the role of the family, state and experts in mediating child health.