{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in American Studies","slug":"new-books-in-american-studies-1045748","podcast_index_feed_id":1045748,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT2571364172","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/1c2a38a6-f361-11e8-b189-f7d6afada886/image/b7575166416cc2a27bf6b6b429ea6f1d.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":5000,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies","last_synced_at":"2026-09-05T06:22:36.942297+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-american-studies-1045748"},"episode":{"title":"Holly N. S. White, \"Constructing American Childhood: Age-Based Laws and the Illusion of Protection in the Early United States\" (U Virginia Press, 2026)","slug":"holly-n-s-white-constructing-american-childhood-age-based-laws-and-the-illusion-of-protection-in-the-early-united-states-u-virginia-press-2026","published_at":"2026-09-03T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-american-studies-1045748/holly-n-s-white-constructing-american-childhood-age-based-laws-and-the-illusion-of-protection-in-the-early-united-states-u-virginia-press-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-american-studies-1045748","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK2703169091.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK2703169091.mp3","summary":"Edward Blum interviews Holly White on her new book Constructing American Childhood: Age-Based Laws and the Illusion of Protection in the Early United States. As of 2025, in the United States an eleven-year-old child can be charged with a federal crime while in many states it’s illegal to leave a twelve-year-old home alone. Twenty-six states allow children younger than sixteen to marry while the legal drinking age remains twenty-one. Are these age-based laws really protecting children, and if not, why do they exist? Holly White uncovers the answers to these questions through a history of America’s first age-based laws. Analyzing trial records, newspapers, personal letters and diaries, as well as legal statutes from the founding era to the Civil War, White shows how restrictive age-based laws were implemented to benefit those who already held power. Over time, these new laws—coming out of child murder and rape trials as well as guardianship and underage marriage disputes—increasingly circumscribed the rights of young Americans in the early republic. As White shows, race, class, status, and gender influenced who came to benefit from the label of “child” in post-revolutionary America. In so doing, Constructing American Childhood explains why Americans continue to be guided by the age-based legal definitions of childhood and adulthood of our past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies","meta_description":"Edward Blum interviews Holly White on her new book Constructing American Childhood: Age-Based Laws and the Illusion of Protection in the Early United…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2240,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-american-studies-1045748/episodes/holly-n-s-white-constructing-american-childhood-age-based-laws-and-the-illusion-of-protection-in-the-early-united-states-u-virginia-press-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-american-studies-1045748/holly-n-s-white-constructing-american-childhood-age-based-laws-and-the-illusion-of-protection-in-the-early-united-states-u-virginia-press-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}