Childhood in Nineteenth-Century France

• List of maps; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. The Rural Background: 1. The agricultural setting; 2. The nature of work for children in agrarian society; 3. Education in rural society; Part II. The Impact of Industrialization: 4. Child labour in the industrial setting; 5. Working conditions for children in industry; 6. A physical decline in the race?; 7. A moral and intellectual decline?; Part III. The State Intervenes: 8. 1841: an experiment in social legislation; 9. The experiment in practice, 1841–70; 10. 1874: child labour legislation comes of age; 11. The curbing of child labour in industry, 1874–92; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

'This is a very good manuscript, well researched, cautious, judicious, eschewing partisan or emotional sweeping statements and above all very well, indeed elegantly, written and constructed. It is, as The New York Review of Books would say, a good read, holding the reader from beginning to end and arriving at some important conclusions.' Olwen Hufton, Harvard University