Playtime

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>The first history of childhood play and imagination in pre-war Australia</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>This groundbreaking book is a history of children's play and imagination in Australia between 1890 and the Second World War. It is a story about the generations that grew up at a time when nation and empire were being reimagined amid the globalising currents of war technology and trade. Theirs were faces that would remain forever young in monochrome film and whose thoughts and dreams would be preserved between the timeless blue lines of the modern school exercise book.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Playtime is built around six imaginative worlds - amateur journalism bird loving war and adventure dolls the future and monsters and fairies. It brings these worlds and the voices of children to life exploring an incredible array of children's artefacts and seeing the social history of Australia through a new lens.</span></p><p></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>'In this brilliant study Emily Gallagher reveals childhood imagination and play as at once traditional and modern conservative and forward-looking - a realm of joy fantasy and fear entangled with the adult world yet a kingdom that children also claim as their own. </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Playtime</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> is a book of striking richness originality and creativity that will change your understanding of the possibilities of Australian social history.' -</span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Frank Bongiorno author of <em>Dreamers and Schemers</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>'Beautifully written </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Playtime</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> is an innovative history of children's imaginative play that takes children seriously in their own right and on their own terms.' -</span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Hannah Forsyth author of <em>Virtue Capitalists</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>'A joy to read this landmark study demonstrates the significance of children's creative play restive imaginations and slumbered dreamworlds. Emily Gallagher has written an instant classic of Australian history according her young protagonists a central place in the national narrative ... </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Playtime</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> showcases a treasure trove of sources to tell vital stories about social relations change and continuity.' -</span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Simon Sleight author of Y<em>oung People and the Shaping of Public Space in Melbourne 1870-1914</em></strong></p>