The Greatest Generation Grows Up
American Childhood in the 1930s
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What was it like growing up in the Great Depression, and how did America's youngest citizens contribute to the history of that fateful decade? In The Greatest Generation Grows Up, Kriste Lindenmeyer shows that the experiences of depression-era children help us understand the course of the 1930s as well as the history of American childhood. For the first time, she notes, federal policy extended childhood dependence through the teen years while cultural changes reinforced this ideal of modern childhood. Grade-based grammar schools and high schools expanded rapidly, strengthening age-based distinctions among children and segregating them further from the world of adults. Radio broadcasters, filmmakers, and manufacturers began to market their products directly to children and teens, powerfully linking consumerism and modern childhood. In all, the thirties experience worked to confer greater identity on American children, and Ms. Lindenmeyer's story provides essential background for understanding the legacy of those men and women whom Tom Brokaw has called "America's greatest generation." While many children suffered terribly during these years--and are remembered vividly in the Farm Security Administration's stunning photographs of the era--Ms. Lindenmeyer argues that an exclusive focus on those who were ill-housed, ill-fed, and ill-clothed neglects the contributions and widely varied experiences of American youngsters. The decade's important changes touched the lives of all children and teenagers. By 1940, the image of an idyllic modern childhood had been strengthened in law and confirmed in culture by the depression years. With 21 black-and-white illustrations.
About this Author
Kriste Lindenmeyer teaches history at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, she has also written A Right to Childhood and edited Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives and Politics of Progress. She lives in Owings Mills, Maryland.
Reviews
A heartening account of a tragic time.
Clear and concise.
Vividly told. . . . An eye opener.
A remarkably compelling and enlightening account. . . . The children's experience's were distinguished from each other . . . as Lindenmeyer beautifully demonstrates.
[This book] covers a broad range of experiences. . . . It features highly accessible writing [and] vivid illustrations.
Lindenmeyer has written a highly readable, entertaining, and very useful volume.
Kriste Lindenmeyer's lucid prose and lively narrative chronicles the history of childhood and children during the Great Depression in this handsomely printed volume with crisp photographic images and an original argument.
Tightly focused. . . . Lindenmeyer's resourcefulness in this respect makes this book compelling and persuasive.
Thought-provoking.
A splendid little book! An amazing amount of information . . . masterful synthesis . . . no student of children and youth and the 1930s can afford to be without it.
Combining lucid prose with telling anecdotes and compelling analysis, Kriste Lindenmeyer explains why the 1930s was a crucial watershed in the history of childhood. A fascinating and insightful book.
Kriste Lindenmeyer, one of our most perceptive historians of childhood, acutely dissects the conceptions and misconceptions that have grown up about them. Our picture of them and their times will never be quite the same again.
She revises our understanding . . . and reminds us of the value--and the complications--of generational histories.
Entertaining as well as thought-provoking. This book will be useful not only to scholars, but also to all who wish to understand the grass-roots impact of the Depression and New Deal on American families--an impact that reverberates through the generations to the present day.
Anyone studying children's rights or the concept of American childhood will want to make [Lindenmeyer's book] a part of their reading.
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