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Philippe Ariès
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Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life Paperback – July 12, 1965

by Philippe Aries (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 59 ratings
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The theme of this extraordinary book is the evolution of the modern conception of family life and the modern image; of the nature of children. Aries traces the evolution of the concept of childhood from the end of the Middle Ages, when the child was regarded as a small adult, to the present child-centered society, by means of diaries, paintings, games, and school curricula.
 
Ironically, he finds that individualism, far from triumphing in our time, has been held in check by the family, and that the increasing power of the tightly-knit family circle has flourished at the expense of the rich-textured communal society of earlier times. Translated from the French by Robert Baldick.
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  1. Print length
    448 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage
  4. Publication date
    July 12, 1965
  5. Dimensions
    5.17 x 0.95 x 8.02 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0394702867
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0394702865
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Philippe Ariès was an important French medievalist and historian of the family and childhood. He is also the author of Centuries of Childhood, which was translated into English in 1962. He died in Paris in 1984.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage (July 12, 1965)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0394702867
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0394702865
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.17 x 0.95 x 8.02 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 59 ratings

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Philippe Ariès

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4.5 out of 5 stars
59 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book an entertaining read that provides a broad view of childhood development over time. It helps deepen their graduate studies and provides glimpses into a passage of time in the past.

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5 customers mention "Reading quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and helpful for research on childhood. They say it provides insights into past times and helps deepen graduate studies.

"A book provides glimpses into a passage of time in the past...." Read more

"...A very interesting book that does not require a historian to understand it...." Read more

"This is an excellent reading for those researching on what exactly is known as childhood and how rooted it is in our ancestry...." Read more

"I really enjoyed reading it! It gives a broad view of the development of childhood throught the centuries...." Read more

3 customers mention "Development"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's overview of childhood development through the centuries. They say it provides a clear picture of early European lives and spares no details.

"...and the emergence of the family unit, Aries P gives a broad picture of early-European lives and spares no details: schools, possessions, house,..." Read more

"I really enjoyed reading it! It gives a broad view of the development of childhood throught the centuries...." Read more

"Centuries of Childhood..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • MSSD
    5.0 out of 5 stars Bridging Minds
    Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2022
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    A book provides glimpses into a passage of time in the past. From the social uprising from agricultural roots the carving of an intellect and the emergence of the family unit, Aries P gives a broad picture of early-European lives and spares no details: schools, possessions, house, dresses. "The ink of hopes and dreams dries in a lifetime."

    To those who are unfamiliar with European history, this book will leave you wanting more.

    As a British American, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to develop an understanding of Eurasian development in addition to a supplement of Chinese history.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Mme Pince
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites
    Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2023
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    I love this book. This classic by Phillipe Aries gives an account of how there have always been children, but not in all cultures has there been a sense of childhood. A very interesting book that does not require a historian to understand it.
    The binding is a plain paperback that doesn't do the text justice, though it stands up well to the years.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Chandi and My Nili Girl
    5.0 out of 5 stars Centuries of Childhood
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2013
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    This is an excellent reading for those researching on what exactly is known as childhood and how rooted it is in our ancestry. The intrinsic value of childhood and the effects thereof are well researched and presented in a manner that makes one wonder, whether childhood itself has such depth to research on. A journey, a path, a curve or a metamorphosis of one's self through and in childhood are well depicted by Aries. A good read indeed.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Orsola M. Charette
    3.0 out of 5 stars about France and England schooling in the past centuries
    Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2021
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    liked nothing--very repetitious and nothing about U.S. I expected how children were treated and expected to act dress converse etc. in various eras with parents school and others--to see a progression of change --not just schooling in 2 countries
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  • The Writer Mo Ibrahim
    5.0 out of 5 stars Is Childhood a Recent Invention?
    Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2012
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    This is another book that I read for my new book on age-discrepant relationships and ephebopilia. As it pertains to my research, I learned the following among other interesting facts:

    Philippe Ariès writes in Centuries of Childhood that the concept of childhood was not portrayed medieval art prior to the 12th century. And that it is highly unlikely that it was an oversight or the part of artist, but that in fact what they painted was the reality of the situation i.e. the concept of childhood was unknown; however, artist or miniaturist painted children on a smaller scale i.e. small men. The paintings further reveal that there was very little separation between children and adults socially - whether in the workforce, sporting, or relaxing.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Luciana Leitão da Silva
    5.0 out of 5 stars I really enjoyed reading it
    Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2015
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    I really enjoyed reading it! It gives a broad view of the development of childhood throught the centuries. It was of great help to deepen my graduate studies!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Michael Sympson
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Paradigm
    Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2001
    During the sixties (those were the times!) this was probably the most influential book on education. The funny thing is, that actually it is not at all about education, but its history and how our Western understanding of childhood as a concept has evolved. For everyone who uses to take for granted the values of a sheltered childhood and a period of prolonged 'innocence', it must come as a surprise, how relatively recent, in historical terms, these developments actually had been. In such light, the medieval society and even the Renaissance look very alien, like people from a distant planet. They had a custom to exchange their children in a network of chartered apprenticeships. Once a little sucker had passed the critical age of five and was deemed to be ready to fend for itself, it became time to learn the way of the world, and to be rented out to service at the tables of a trade or of landed nobility. Only a select few received rudimentary tuition and set out on an aca!demic career, which meant years of vagrancy and the open road between Universities and urban centers of learning. As for the pre-school age, the child was a sexless, almost nameless piece of livestock and roamed the townships in street gangs, wore an undistinguished piece of garb, rummaged the garbage dumps and contributed to the family's income with petty theft and beggary. It never washed, hunkered down to torture an unfortunate beetle or wrenched a cat's tail; it learned to drink small beer, in order to escape the diarrhea that lurked in every well. It was on a race against measles, small pocks, diphtheria, and crippling polio, and the odds weren't good. Parents preferred not to involve themselves too emotionally in the frequent deaths of their small ones. A little thing had died, sad, but a replacement is already under way. Scenes from modern day Calcutta come to mind. (This condition was not necessarily class-specific. The future emperor Frederick II (1194-1250), heir t!o the most powerful dynasty of his time, one of the best educated and most enlightened rulers in history, who was fluently conversant in six languages, including Arabic, had passed his early childhood and adolescence as a thieving thug in a Sicilian street-gang. He coined the notorious phrase of the three con-men: Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. Needless to say, the popes took turns to excommunicate this man.) These days, teachers use to complain over class-sizes. I still remember my first year in primary: we first graders shared the same classroom with the second grade, and one teacher took care of both at the same time. But this is idyllic if compared to the beginnings of the modern school system in the late Renaissance! You had first graders of every age between seven and twenty-five sitting in one room with second, third, and fourth graders. Many of the most renowned educators were practising pedophiles and nobody found anything wrong with it. Only gradually, the Jesuits in th!eir colleges set a trend for stricter discipline and the separation of the ages. This was paralleled by a new understanding of parenthood. Up to this point the Church had been too busy with her own agenda of sorting out who is orthodox or an infidel, to care much about such mundane matters as marriage (see my review of Caroll's 'Constantine's Sword'). Newly wed couples used to receive without much ceremony an informal blessing under the open sky, on the stairway to the church-entrance. But now marriage had became institutionalized at last and a 'holy sacrament'. The little ones, as the fruit of such commitment, became precious, and their still frequent deaths a source of inconsolable grief. For the first time since Antiquity, we find again infants to be buried in individually marked tombs. Supervision intensified; early tuition was recognized as a means to keep kids out of trouble. Children wore the same costumes as their parents and from early on displayed the airs of their !respective social classes. They no longer exposed their genitals in public and slept in a place removed from their parent's bed. It was not exactly a world of fairies and dreaming under soaring larks, there was little time for this and no space to wax sentimental. The kids were on a mission: to grow up as soon as possible and take their share of responsibility for the family's fortunes. The nuclear family was born out of economic expedience - your own children are more loyal then a hired apprentice; and you save on the wages. The emerging educational system served to reinforce this trend and at the same time developed a new sense of parental commitment. Then came the industrial age and mobilized human resources on an unprecedented scale. The sentimental attachment deepened and in the era of Victorian hypocrisy and a growing life expectancy, the biological learning period was stretched even further and a new myth was born: the myth of innocence and of an infancy in fairyland. !The fashion recognized the need for age related clothing, the age of children's literature was born and parents learned to lie to their children on the facts of life and the birds and the bees. Has this turned out to be a blessing? History's court is still in session, and the replacement of King Arthur, Cinderella and the Dwarfs by Kermit, the Cooky-Monster and Miss Piggy might turn out to be a rather dubious piece of pedagogic progress. Monsieur Aries book certainly deserves its rank as a classic.
    62 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2017
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    Thank you
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Maria Clara
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fast delivery and book in very good condition
    Reviewed in Canada on November 25, 2023
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    The book arrived earlier than expected and was in very good condition.
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  • Nikki
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2017
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    Book will help me with my essay
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  • OGRD
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great condition!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2018
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    Great condition, thank you!
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  • Maria Cristina Alves da Silveira Ribeiro
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2013
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    I was looking for this film for a long time. Very good purchase. Matched perfectly my expectations. Arrived on time
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  • John Scott
    3.0 out of 5 stars Centuries of Childhood
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2011
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    Unfortunately this book covered a disproportionate amount of the later part of the period it claimed to cover: and as my interest was the Mediaeval period, it was less useful to me than I had hoped. Also, some of Aries's views have been questioned by later authors. Nonetheless it was a ground-breaking work in its time, and well worth a place on my bookshelf. John Scott.
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