From the time that the infant colonies broke away from the parent country to the present day, narratives of U.S. national identity are persistently configured in the language of childhood and family. In The American Child: A Cultural Studies Reader, contributors address matters of race, gender, and family in order to chart the ways that representations of the child typify historical periods and conflicting ideologies. They build on the recent critical renaissance in childhood studies by bringing to their essays a wide range of critical practices and methodologies. Although the volume is grounded heavily in the literary, it draws on various other disciplines, revealing that representations of children and childhood are not isolated artifacts but cultural productions that in turn affect the social climates around them. Essayists look at games, pets, adolescent sexuality, death, family relations and key texts such as The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn, and the movie Pocahontas to reveal the myriad ways in which the figure of the child operates as a rich vehicle for writers and social commentators to consider evolving ideas of nation and the diverse roles of citizens within it.

Contributions by: Gillian Brown, Karen Sanchez-Eppler, Melanie Dawson, Leslie Ginsberg, Kelly Hager, Jane Thrailkill, Michelle MassT, Laura Dawkins