Public provision for the rights of children has, at last, a complete documentary history. In three volumes, covering United States history from 1600 to the present, this is a monumental contribution in an area central to American domestic policy.

All aspects of the welfare of children are considered. The documents, as comprehensive as they are diverse, are woven into an enlightening narrative of the fundamental issues involved in the place of youth in America.

The concluding volumes present forty years of tumultuous history. They begin with the problems and protests of youth in the 1930s; their response to depression, war, and the draft; their organizations and participation in struggles for equality; and their changing legal status. With the advent of the New Deal and continuing into the Nixon administration, the sources show a growing popular emphasis on the rights and welfare of children as well as a dramatic shift in the position and commitment of the federal government. Policies and programs are many and vigorous, but gaps, protests, and inequalities persist.

Upon the appearance of the first volume, Children and Youth in America was hailed as "an important event in the history of child welfare in the United States." Now completed, these volumes constitute an indispensable reference and absorbing chronicle of American social history.