| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 95.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 95.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Children at Play: An American History. By Howard P. Chudacoff. (New York: New York University Press, 2007. xvi, 269 pp. $27.95, ISBN 978-0-8147-1664-9.)
Unlike other recent works such as The Cute and the Cool (2004) by Gary Cross or Raising Consumers (2004) by Lisa Jacobson, Children at Play is more a compilation and commentary than a scholarly monograph. As Howard P. Chudacoff notes in the preface, he sought to "synthesize from secondary works published by a wide range of social scientists, journalists, and others" (p. xiii). This is not to say that he fails to use primary materials, including diaries and autobiographies, but that the principal argument and narrative are based on works familiar to students of the history of children and childhood.	1
Among the works summarized are Kids' Stuff (1997) by Gary Cross, Children in the House (1992) by Karen Calvert, The Ambiguity of Play (1997) by Brian Sutton-Smith, Small Words (1992) edited by Elliott West and Paula Petrik, Play and Playthings (1982) by Bernard Mergen, Out of the Garden (1993) by Stephen Kline, and Huck's Raft (2004) by Steven Mintz. Beyond this stellar list are a host of other influential but more narrowly focused works by scholars and social critics.	. . .

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