Babies Made Us Modern

Golden's manuscript as history is overall so full of rich detail, so nicely presented and so widely researched that it will make an important addition to the literature on childhood, on modern childrearing, and on the larger question of where children fit into American history. It is the complex, often unexpected, and subtle way in which Golden argues for how babies have brought Americans into the modern world that makes the book both a pleasure to read and groundbreaking. Paula Fass, University of California, Berkeley

This fascinating, richly researched history is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the American paradox: How a nation that professes to love babies can have the highest rate of infant mortality in any wealthy society. As Golden demonstrates, shifting attitudes toward babies radically reshaped medical practice, consumer spending, governmental policy, and public understanding of human development – even as large numbers of infants continued to grow up in poverty and without adequate care or stimulation. Steven Mintz, University of Texas, Austin

This is a wonderful book about how our evolving view of infancy changed our world; Janet Golden has brought the lost images and voices of babies and their caregivers back into our national story and created a book that will be of interest to all who care about American history, and about child development. Perri Klass, New York University

What a unique perspective on twentieth-century America. Janet Golden, an exquisite storyteller and spectacular sleuth, uncovered odd bits of history brilliantly gleaned from babies – our non-verbal, cooing descendants. She has incubated this novel thesis: The modern era was propelled, in part, by a quest to keep babies alive, disease-free, well fed and happy. You'll be shocked, entertained and utterly convinced. Randi Hutter Epstein, Yale University