Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood

Steven Mintz. Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2004. 464pp. Cloth $29.95.

Huck's Raft is a carefully documented and engaging overview of the history of American childhood from colonial times to the present. Such a sweeping work faces major difficulties due to the wide diversity of experiences among American children and youth over time. Obviously no single book can say it all. Nonetheless, Steven Mintz, successfully integrates the major themes of historiography put forward since the publication of Robert Bremner's pioneering collection, Children and Youth in America (Harvard University Press, 1971). In addition, Mintz introduces a slightly new periodization scheme that includes the late twentieth century and debunks several current popular conceptions about America's young people. Mintz states that one of his goals for Huck's Raft "is to strip away the myths, misconceptions, and nostalgia that contribute to [today's general] pessimism about the young"(p.vii). He argues that it is important to understand the history of childhood because it shows that "nostalgia for the past offers no helpful solutions to the problems of the present"(p. 382). Mintz moves comfortably between a study of the past and contemporary children's issues. He holds the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History at the University of Houston and is the national co-chair of the Council on Contemporary Families.

In his prologue, Mintz explains why he chose a title referencing Mark Twain's fictional Huckleberry Finn, outlining the major framework for understanding the author's interpretation of American childhood history. "The precariousness of Huck's trip down the Mississippi suggests the physical, psychological, emotional, and socioeconomic...