Childhood in the Promised Land

"[A] remarkable book. . . . [S]o much is conveyed about ideology, gender, class, work and leisure that this book is a 'must' for all who are interested in French society in the past century." - Hugh Clout , Modern and Contemporary France

"[I]n its insistence on the possibilities of working-class agency and social change, Children in the Promised Land is a provocative and hopeful book." - Roxanne Panchasi, Labour/Le Travail

"[I]nformative and lively. . . . Based on exhaustive research in archival and printed primary sources, her book represents social history at its best, informing and informed by political and cultural history." - Rachel G. Fuchs , American Historical Review

"[M]eticulously researched. . . . More than simply a history of summer camps, Childhood in the Promised Land is ultimately a rich and perceptive account of the rise and fall of one particular ideal of social transformation and solidarity." - Katrin Schultheiss , Labor History

"[R]ich, fascinating, and gracefully written. . . . Downs's book is so well written, solidly researched, and full of original insights that it is difficult to find any fault. . . . That Downs's study raises such pivotal questions magnifies the importance of this deeply satisfying book." - Edward Berenson, Journal of Modern History

"Down takes great care to show us how children were often at the center of ideological and cultural disputes in France between 1880 and 1960. Her book . . . opens up new terrain for historians to discuss how children fared in these cultural conflicts." - Anne T. Quartararo , The Historian

"Laura Lee Downs’ superb new book is a study of the emergence and evolution of colonies de vacances, those weeks-long stays in the country that were once part of a good many working-class children’s summers. . . . This brief summary does little justice to the rich detail of Childhood in the Promised Land. . . . Downs uses a wide array of sources, including records of the municipal colonies, newspaper accounts, interviews, and children’s journals. Such a strong source base allows her to differentiate the social control often intended by the adults in charge of colonies from the actual experiences of children. . . . In the end, this book is an accessible way to learn how catholicism, socialism, and communism actually affected people’s, and particularly children’s, lives. . . . [E]xcellent. . . . Childhood in the Promised Land is, without question, one of the best books on the history of childhood in France to appear in a very long time." - Stephen L. Harp , H-France, H-Net Reviews

"This book's strengths lie in Downs' skillful analysis of this pedagogy, the underpinning attitudes about childhood and child development, and the factors that produced this transformation in France's colonies. . . . Downs has offered us a masterful analysis of a much more complex view of childhood than previously supposed, and the fascinating implications this entailed for the competing ideologies that sought to leave a lasting imprint on France's future generations." - Steven M. Beaudoin , Journal of Social History

"[A] spirited and readable book. . . . For the French, the colonie de vacances has become a veritable lieu de mémoire, and Down's book demonstrates why in artful and telling detail." - Philip Nord , Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“Childhood in the Promised Land reveals the prominent place of contesting and complementary ideas of the countryside, childhood, education, and play in republican, social Catholic, Socialist, and Communist worldviews as they developed in Third and Fourth Republic France. Laura Lee Downs takes us beyond parliamentary and extra-parliamentary politics to the differing cultural projects of each group.” - Donald Reid, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

“This is a marvelous book, written with the analytic power and sensitivity to human experience that only the finest practitioners of the historian’s craft manage to combine. Laura Lee Downs takes us deep into the complexities of the colonies des vacances to reveal a world of working-class childhood that has largely been closed to us until now. She also provides a brilliant history of the grown-ups—Catholic, Socialist, and Communist—who created the colonies with competing political agendas, even as they shared pedagogical convictions that summertime play held a key to nothing short of human freedom. The result is an arresting reexamination of working-class life and social reform that will make this book a milestone in the literature on twentieth-century France.” - Herrick Chapman, New York University