Description
Book SynopsisHaving established laws removing many children from the marketplace, turn-of-the-century America was discovering new, sentimental criteria to determine a child's monetary worth. This book traces the emergence of the modern child, at once economically 'useless' and emotionally 'priceless,' from the late 1800s to the 1930s.
Trade Review"[The] argument about the future of childhood will go on, and it must now include the facts, point of view, and even taxonomy brought forward in Pricing the Priceless Child."--Neil Postman, The Washington Post "[Zelizer's book] is an imaginative work on an important topic, which will surely find an appreciative audience among historians."--Nancy Tomes, Reviews in American History
Table of ContentsPreface (1994)AcknowledgmentsIntroduction31From Mobs to Memorials: The Sacralization of Child Life222From Useful to Useless: Moral Conflict Over Child Labor563From Child Labor to Child Work: Redefining the Economic World of Children734From a Proper Burial to a Proper Education: The Case of Children's Insurance1135From Wrongful Death to Wrongful Birth: The Changing Legal Evaluation of Children1386From Baby Farms to Black-Market Babies: The Changing Market for Children1697From Useful to Useless and Back to Useful? Emerging Patterns in the Valuation of Children208Notes229Index267
