Songs of innocence
Subtitle: the story of British childhood
By: Fran Abrams
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 2012
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 282
ISBN-13: 9781843548966; 9781782390404
Subjects: Social conditions; Children; History
Description: As recently as one hundred years ago British children existed in ways now unthinkable; boys as young as eight worked gruelling hours in unlit factories; girls were sold into sexual slavery with dolls still in their grasp; and boys at schools like Rugby and Harrow were brutally trained for their future at the helm of Britain's vast red empire. In 'Songs of Innocence' Fran Abrams charts the transformation of childhood in the UK from early Victorian disagreements about child-rearing to the Scouts' very direct involvement in the First World War, through the 'children's rights' movements of the 1970s and into the twenty-first century.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 268-274) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Victoria's children; title: 2. Cosseted Edwardians; title: 3. Scout's honour; title: 4. Between the wars; title: 5. War babies; title: 6. Born in the ruins; title: 7. Children of the social revolution; title: 8. Eighties to ASBOs.