Abstract

Joseph Hawes and Ray Hiner remind us that it is the unusual methodological difficulties of the field that have made it so hard to establish (and to initiate, for example, its own journal) while other historical areas of inquiry, born at more or less the same time, like African American history and women's history came into their own much earlier. The authors caution, however, that early flourishing can generate conservatism, and they challenge historians to keep their focus on children, not be led back to the study of adults, as some studying African Americans have moved to whiteness and the study of women has led some to study masculinity. Hawes and Hiner express optimism that the wide interdisciplinarity, global reach, and the diversity of those who study children and childhood will keep its focus on children, where it belongs.—M.S.

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