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Neil Postman
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The Disappearance of Childhood Paperback – August 2, 1994

by Neil Postman (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 213 ratings
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From the vogue for nubile models to the explosion in the juvenile crime rate, this modern classic of social history and media traces the precipitous decline of childhood in America today−and the corresponding threat to the notion of adulthood.

Deftly marshaling a vast array of historical and demographic research, Neil Postman, author of Technopoly, suggests that childhood is a relatively recent invention, which came into being as the new medium of print imposed divisions between children and adults. But now these divisions are eroding under the barrage of television, which turns the adult secrets of sex and violence into popular entertainment and pitches both news and advertising at the intellectual level of ten-year-olds.

Informative, alarming, and aphorisitc, The Disappearance of Childhood is a triumph of history and prophecy.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    177 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage/Random House
  4. Publication date
    August 2, 1994
  5. Dimensions
    5.2 x 0.5 x 7.9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0679751661
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0679751663
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of Technopoly examines the embattled nature of childhood in contemporary American culture.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Postman persuasively mobilizes the insights of psychology, history, semantics, McLuhanology, and common sense on behalf of his astonishing and original thesis."
--Victor Navasky

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage/Random House (August 2, 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 177 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679751661
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679751663
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.5 x 7.9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 213 ratings

About the author

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Neil Postman

Neil Postman

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Neil Postman was chairman of the department of communication arts at New York University. He passed away in 2003.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
213 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Randlehouse
5.0 out of 5 stars An Almost Astonishing Book-
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2007
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It isn't often anymore that I read something that pops my eyes wide open. Postman is always interesting, always thought provoking, but in this book, he had me outside my own box, looking back in. So seldom am I offered new ideas, new perspectives based on intelligent rersearch and analisys. And what he has to say here is a little chilling. His history of the existance of our idea of childhood was fascinating - but his warning for the immediate future is important and powerful. I might, myself, have titled the book The Disappearance of Adulthood - Postman's points here explain so much. Coupled with David Elkind's The Hurried Child and Brizendine's The Female Brain, this book sheds huge light on why things are happening in our homes, our culture, the world. Add a little research into the new work on adolescent brain chem, and suddenly, the way we have been doing things for our children springs serious holes. An engaging, pleasant read with thorns. Highly recommended to anybody who loves kids. We need to understand what to expect from them and ourselves.
18 people found this helpful
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Zelie Nic
5.0 out of 5 stars I was not prepared to go so far back into history
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2008
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Beggining with Classical Greece, Postman catlogues the journey and development of childhood. I assumed he would have begun in the Industrial Revolution, which is where msot others might likely have started. However, Postman was never like most others.

An enjoyable, though troubling book to read, my favourite bits come earlier in the book where we find that childhood needs shame in order to be defiend. That shame is of adult things, and therefore, childhood is codefied by shame because the seperation then occurs, with adults needing to protect children. Is this shame then hidden in literature?

I'd go on, but you must simply raed through it yourself. I found it fascinating... and, as I've said before, troubling. This was written in the mid eighties, but this fact does not make it irrelevent. The apst twenty-some years may only provide more confirmation of Neil Postman's thesis.

A great book.
13 people found this helpful
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The fat cat
5.0 out of 5 stars and gives a good understanding of how we have actually arrived at the ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2015
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This book by Neil Postman is well written in his usual accessible and informative style. The research and reasoning are very sound, and the book gets you thinking and reflecting on the social changes that have taken place since it was first published. As it says in the preface to the current edition, the topic and conclusions remain as relevant and true today as they were a couple of decades ago. And there is a lot to ponder in relation to the contemporary means of communication, mass media, and the nature of being a child and an adult. I think that this book sheds light on many practices that define people's relationships today, and gives a good understanding of how we have actually arrived at the point where we are now as a society.
2 people found this helpful
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N. Mozahem
4.0 out of 5 stars A book that every parent should read
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2009
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I was introduced to the writings of Neil Postman very recently and for that I am glad. He combines knowledge, great writing skills and the ability to prophesize about the future, and the result is always a powerful book that is usually way ahead of its time. This book is no exception.
This is a very disturbing book, and what exasperates things is that the author seems to be right. It is easier to agree with this book today that it was when it was first published because many things that the author mentions have actually became true. The author describes how the idea of childhood first came about and shows that it was a necessary step in the evolution of man as a social animal. The author then goes on to tell the reader how this necessary idea is now disappearing. Children and adults dress the same way, they speak the same way and most importantly they have access to the same information. Ever parent should read this book to be aware of what too much information might do to children. I know that a lot of people might not agree with the main premises of the book, but I am sure that most parents will relate to it.
13 people found this helpful
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Economics Fanatic
5.0 out of 5 stars Every Parent Should Read This Book
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2010
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This is an amazing book on the escape from and the return to barbarism. I think abo9ut this book every time I hear somebody mention that children sure grow up faster these days, or see 6 and 7 year old girls plastered with make-up talking about sex, or .... there cannot be any doubt that children have access to much more than they did just 20 years ago. Postman does a great job of setting forth a living story from our own times. I personally eliminated television from my life almost 18 years ago and am happier today than ever. Too bad Mr. Postman did not have the opportunity to update his book to add modern day internet. This book should change the way you think about modern "progress" without any sense of control. It is an eye opening essay that I recommend to just about everybody I meet.
8 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Childhood is slipping away. . .
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2017
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"Childhood" was not always what it came to be in the 20th century, and Neil Postman carefully avoids rendering "historical" childhood in sentimental terms. But, in the Western world, with protections against child labor, and in a political environment that depends on the social and intellectual education of "children," we did achieve a reasonable balance of influences such that "childhood," for a time, could produce good citizens. Published in the 1980's (1990's?) Postman marks the Disappearance of Childhood in both intellectual and social development. This book marks a trend that has accelerated further into the 21st century.
4 people found this helpful
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D. L. Reynolds
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2017
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How is it that in all these years of reading, I've just now discovered Neil Postman? Short version: this book is brilliant -- insightful, thought-provoking, beautifully well written. The author's extended riff on television commercials as a modern take on the religious parable is stunning. The book was originally published in 1984, so the cultural references are dated, but don't let that deter you. The points he makes about the "disappearance of childhood" are more relevant today than when the book was written. I've become an instant fan of Mr. Postman and will be seeking out anything else he's written.
28 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

chad peters
5.0 out of 5 stars Postman was a Prohet. Read everything he wrote. Teachers should be required to read this one.
Reviewed in Canada on December 7, 2020
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The concept of childhood is only 150 years old..... Wait WHAT?! This book was another of Postmans' that altered the way I see the world. Read this book. If you are an educator, read it twice, loan it to all you friends who are parents.
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5.0 out of 5 stars john chapman
Reviewed in Spain on May 31, 2017
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Amazing book. The guy was a prophet in the 80's. Its true, the childhood is disappearing , really fast, Kids are not kids anymore, they become little aduts in no time. Sad but true, The tv, the publicity, the media, change and corrupt the innocent age. I really recommend this book
One person found this helpful
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K. Moosa
5.0 out of 5 stars highly informative
Reviewed in Germany on April 17, 2014
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I had never thought about childhood as a historical or social construct, so I was quite amazed when I read this book. Neil Postmann argues, that it is the secrets held by the adult world which creates a childhood and seperates children from grown ups. In times before the printing press only listening and speaking was required in order to participate fully in a society. As a result young and old pretty much dressed the same, did similar work and leisure time was spend in the same manner. With widespread literacy through the printing press this all changed, because the secrets of the adults were now written down and children had to aquire reading and writing first in order to participate fully. Childhood as we know it, was created.
Now with generations being conditioned through moving pictures, childhood is disappearing, because a picture reveals all the secrets in an instant, no literacy is needed. And when we look at present society, we can see that Postmann was right; similar clothing, similar pass-times and it is difficult to evaluate if the children become faster grown-ups or if the adults regress into childishness.
One person found this helpful
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John Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Is this a classic? No? Well, it deserves to be.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 11, 2007
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I bought this book together with 'Toxic Childhood' by Sue Palmer. They are a well matched, complementary pair. Whereas Palmer's book is a 'how to' manual on the pitfalls of bringing up children in a society that is inimical to their well being and proper development, and contains lots of useful advice for parents and other adults, Postman's book provides a theoretical rationale for Palmer's viewpoint. Anyone who, on reading Palmer's book, is tempted to write her of as an illiberal fuddy-duddy should read Postman. 'The Disappearance of Childhood' was first published a quarter of a century ago, but is becoming (sadly) more up to date with every passing day. It's hard to pick any holes in this erudite and stylish account of how our social construction of childhood arrived with the printing press in the sixteenth century and is now being ushered out by twentieth century modes of electronic communication, leaving us with a society bereft of any special attitude towards children, a society that harks back to the dark and middle ages. The main culprit (of course) is television, but this is not just a rant against 'dumbing down'. (No, really; you'll just have to read it yourself.) As interesting as Postman's views on the 'adultification' of children is his notion of the 'childification' of adults. No-one can explain this better than Postman himself, so do give it a go. Even if you don't agree with everything Postman says, even if you find some of your own cherished ideas and values under attack, at least you won't be bored.
56 people found this helpful
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Sarnsa
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2019
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Useful book to use in working with children and studying for Playwork and Childcare qualifications
2 people found this helpful
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