"It is good to see writing and research about the history of children burst forth with the social diversity, imaginative research, and relevance to the present that are displayed in this collection. For too long, the lives of children have been merely an adjunct of family history; in this volume those lives become, as they should, the story of children themselves examining and evaluating their parents and their teachers as well as their peers in various regions and social situations within the United States."

--Carl N. Degler, author of At Odds: Women and the Family in America, from the Revolution to the Present

"The highly commendable purpose of Small Worlds is to portray the children of America's past as historical actors in their own right. In spite of the many difficulties presented by the scant historical evidence pertaining to children, the authors in this collection have constructed significant and original narratives relating vivid stories of forgotten younger citizens. Balanced and sensitive to issues of race, class, and gender, Small Worlds is an important and timely addition to the swelling volume of literature pertaining to the history of American children."

--Joseph M. Hawes, author of The Children's Rights Movement in the United States

"This book represents a new and imaginative reconception of the American experience. . . . Especially noteworthy is the emphasis on material culture."

--David M. Katzman, author of Seven Days a Week: Women and Domestic Service in Industrializing America

Submitted By Publisher, January, 2004

Historians have been guilty of child neglect. Yes, they've studied children, but only to learn about adults. Typically they've chosen adult-centered research topics like child-rearing practices, social attitudes toward children, and the evolution of public institutions like education and juvenile courts.
The thirteen essays in Small Worlds take a different tack. They treat children as active, influential participants in society. Here children and adolescents from the pre-Civil War generation to 1950 are seen as actors in their own right, shapers of their own history who not only mirror adult values, but also modify them.

Pt. 1 Allee Allee Oxen Free: Cultural and Regional Variations

1. Children and Commercial Culture: Moving Pictures in the Early Twentieth Century
2. Children on the Plains Frontier
3. Immigrant Children at School, 1880-1940: A Child's Eye View
4. "Star Struck": Acculturation, Adolescence, and Mexican American Women, 1920-1950

Pt. 2 Eenie Meanie, Minie Moe: Children, Play, and Society

5. Made, Bought, and Stolen: Toys and the Culture of Childhood
6. Sugar and Spite: The Politics of Doll Play in Nineteenth-Century America
7. The Youngest Fourth Estate: The Novelty Toy Printing Press and Adolescence, 1870-1886
8. The Homefront Children's Popular Culture: Radio, Movies, Comics--Adventure, Patriotism, and Sex-Typing

Pt. 3 Seen but Not Heard: Children in American Photographs
Pt. 4 One, Two, Buckle My Shoe / Three, Four, Shut the Door: Children and the Family

9. Children as Chattel
10. Golden Girls: Female Socialization among the Middle Class of Los Angeles, 1880-1910
11. "Ties That Bind and Bonds That Break": Children's Attitudes toward Fathers, 1900-1930
12. "The Only Thing I Wanted Was Freedom": Wayward Girls in New York, 1900-1930

Pt. 5 Looking Backward: Remembering Childhood

13. Bitter Nostalgia: Recollections of Childhood on the Midwestern Frontier