Childhood on the Farm: Work, Play, and Coming of Age in the

Childhood on the Farm: Work, Play, and Coming of Age in the Midwest
- Used Book in Good Condition
As the United States transformed itself from an agricultural to an industrial nation, thousands of young people left farm homes for life in the big city. But even by 1920 the nation's heartland remained predominantly rural and most children in the region were still raised on farms. Pamela Riney-Kehrberg retells their stories, offering glimpsesâ€”both nostalgic and realisticâ€”of a bygone era.

As Riney-Kehrberg shows, the experiences of most farm children continued to reflect the traditions of family life and labor, albeit in an age when middle-class urban Americans were beginning to redefine childhood as a time reserved for education and play. She draws upon a wealth of primary sourcesâ€”not only memoirs and diaries but also census dataâ€”to create a vivid portrait of midwestern farm childhood from the early post-Civil War period through the Progressive Era growing pains of industrialization. Those personal accounts resurrect the essential experience of children's work, play, education, family relations, and coming of age from their own perspectives.

Steering a middle path between the myth of wholesome farm life and the reality of work that was often extremely dangerous, Riney-Kehrberg shows both the best and the worst that a rural upbringing had to offer midwestern youth a time before mechanization forever changed the rural scene and radio broke the spell of isolation. Down on the farm, truancy was not uncommon and chores were shared across genders. Yet farm children managed to indulge in inventive playâ€”much of it homemadeâ€”to supplement store-bought toys and to get through the long spells between circuses.

Filled with insightful personal stories and graced with dozens of highly evocative period photos, Childhood on the Farm is the only general history of midwestern farm children to use narratives written by the children themselves, giving a fresh voice to these forgotten years. Theirs was a way of life that was disappearing even as they lived it, and this book offers new insight into why, even if many rural youngsters became urban and suburban adults, they always maintained some affection for the farm.
Country USA
Brand University Press of Kansas
Manufacturer University Press of Kansas
Binding Hardcover
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780700613885
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	University Press of Kansas
Manufacturer	University Press of Kansas
Binding	Hardcover
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780700613885
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Childhood on the Farm: Work, Play, and Coming of Age in the Midwest

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