The History of Childhood (The Master Work)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but unreliable
Review: The only trouble with this very interesting and readable book is that its conclusions have long since been discredited by eminent specialists in the field.

Rating:
Summary: History for the Future
Review: This revolutionary book impacted not only childhood history but history in general, as well as psychology and the hybrid field of psychohistory. The scholarly contributions remain essential reading for those who wish to look candidly at the past and the introduction by deMause is simply epochal. His view that adult and social violence have their origins in childhood has been vindicated by the most important studies of the subject, including James Gilligan's "Violence," Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes's "Why They Kill," and Anna Motz's groundbreaking study of female violence "The Psychology of Female Violence," the latter two having drawn on the works of deMause. Accordingly, this book is important not only for understanding our past, but as an indicator of where much fruitful scholarship is going to be done in the future. This work has rightly been praised by such noted historians as William Langer, Past President of the American Historical Association, and Rudolph Binion, as well as many luminaries from the field of psychology including psychiatrist Morton Schatzman, and eminent therapists like Reuben Fine and Alice Miller, who has drawn extensively on deMause's work. I concur with the New York Review of Books that this work is "Brilliant...bold...challenging." I would also add "indispensable." I cannot recommend this work too highly.