Review A nuanced and sophisticated account of the early American cultural landscape and the ways children engaged with cultural anxieties and concerns. The project offers many useful insights into early American writing. (Caroline Levander author of Cradle of Liberty: Race, the Child, and National Belonging from Thomas Jefferson to W. E. B. Du Bois)Duane's work offers a valuable road map for scholars seeking routes out of the theoretical blind alleys that potentially stifle inquiry into the history of children. (Journal of American History)Duane demonstrates the myriad ways in which early Americans conceptualized their own place within the British system and their relationships with others, including American Indians and enslaved Africans, through the lens of childhood. She analyzes a very wide-ranging selection of texts and draws on cognitive theory to enhance our understanding of the evolving place of children and of childhood as a concept in early American experiences and aspirations. (Karen Ordahl Kupperman Silver Professor of History, New York University)By tracing how wailing infants and other children in distress shape the work of early American authors, Duane provides an important prehistory to previous criticism on suffering children. . . .[She] provides an important example of how childhood might be used to shed light on women’s issues and the work of female writers rather than the other way around. (Courtney Weikle-Mills Legacy)Suffering Childhood provides provocative interpretations of many key documents from early America and reveals often unexpected linkages between childhood and cultural struggles. (Julie Sievers Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth) Read more About the Author ANNA MAE DUANE is an associate professor of English and director of the American Studies Program at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Suffering Childhood in Early America: Violence, Race, and the Making of the Child Victim (Georgia). Read more
Trustpilot
3 days ago
2 days ago
