Why read A Right to Childhood?

Book cover of A Right to Childhood: The U.S. Children's Bureau and Child Welfare, 1912-46

Book description

Warring factions in the United States like to use children as weapons
for their political agendas as Americans try to determine the role--if
any--of the federal government in the lives of children. But what is the
history of child welfare policy in the United States? What can we learn
from…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Right to Childhood as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Paula S. Fass

Author

How we treat children has a political dimension and is related to policies toward children.

A Right to Childhood discusses the first and only time that the United States created a federal agency to investigate and help direct child life. Lindenmeyer traces the origins of the Children’s Bureau to the fierce efforts of reform-minded women, and considers the agency’s attempts to improve the welfare of all children, including the children of the poor and foreign.

Starting with concerns about very high rates of infant mortality in the United States, the bureau moved on to study and inform mothers about children’s…

From Paula's list on The best books to understand American parenting.