Past Present and Personal: The Family and the Life Course in American History

About this book

With this book John Demos the author of A Little Commonwealth--a landmark study of Pilgrim family life--and the award-winning Entertaining Satan makes a major contribution to the rapidly growing literature on "family history." Covering the entire span of American history he discusses topics such as the changing nature of fatherhood the experience of middle age in colonial times and in the present and the historians role in discussions of present-day policy making. Demos sparks controversy by challenging many prevalent views including the premise that past eras witnessed more child abuse than the present day and the belief in the constancy of "storm and stress" as a part of adolescent development. In clear straightforward prose that will appeal to both the specialist and general reader Demos explores the subtle relationship between past and present between the historian and his subject and between practical and theoretical concerns.