Youth of Darkest England: Working-Class Children at the Heart of Victorian Empire

by Troy Boone

Overview

This book examines the representation of English working-class children - the youthful inhabitants of the poor urban neighborhoods that a number of writers dubbed "darkest England" - in Victorian and Edwardian imperialist literature. In particular, Boone focuses on how the writings for and about youth undertook an ideological project to enlist working-class children into the British imperial enterprise, demonstrating convincingly that the British working-class youth resisted a nationalist identification process that tended to eradicate or obfuscate class differences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415972628
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/28/2004
Series:	Children's Literature and Culture
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Troy M. Boone is Assistant Professor of English and Acting Director of the Children's Literature Program at the University of Pittsburgh, US.

Table of Contents

Series Editor’s Foreword Awknowledgments List of Illustrations Introduction 1. Henry Mayhew’s Children of the Street 2. Class, Violence, and Mid-Victorian Penny Fiction: "Murder Made Familiar"? 3. Improving Penny Fiction: The "Ticklish Work" of Treasure Island 4. Remaking Lawless Lads and Liscentious Girls: The Salvation Army and the Regeneration of Empire 5. The Boy Scouts and the Working Classes 6. Patriot Games: Football and the First World War Notes Bibliography IndexBottom of Form 7