Childhood in Question

Book excerpt: Childhood in Question explores the historical development, from the 1600s to the 1960s, of childhood experience. Drawing on artifacts as diverse as state papers, legal records, diaries, letters and oral sources, the authors probe a series of key issues: the definition of "the child" and the formation of identity; the emotional world of childhood; the changing attitudes of the state to family intimacy and parent-child relations; the sexuality of children; children and authority; and children and crime.