GARY CROSS. The Cute and the Cool: Wondrous Innocence and Modern American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004. Pp. 259. $29.95.

Abstract

Gary Cross argues that society and culture in the United States idolize children because we need them as symbols of innocence. But innocence can be a difficult and contradictory concept. Even as Americans seek to delight innocent and pure children, they cooperate in their exploitation as commercial and sexual objects. Sheltering innocent children from the vagaries and threats of modern life became possible as American society became more affluent. By the turn of the twentieth century, the idea of sheltering children and helping them develop along rational or scientific lines became the goal of emerging professionals and experts. At the same time the idea justified the efforts of advocates for playgrounds, public schools, juvenile justice, and the elimination of child labor, all of whom claimed to be working on behalf of real children who lacked a sheltered childhood. Ultimately, Cross argues, the well-meaning child protectionists were undermined if not defeated by the rise of the consumer market. Advertisers penetrated the homes of sheltered children and lured them into the world of consumption by appealing to their childish desires and the suppressed desires of their parents.