“Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood” has garnered national praise and awards for author Steven Mintz, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History and director of the American Cultures Program at UH.

Mintz has received the Organization of American Historians Merle Curti Award for “Huck’s Raft,” which provides the first comprehensive history of American childhood encompassing both the child’s and the adult’s tumultuous early years of life. The award recognizes the best book published in American social, intellectual or cultural history.

Mintz also is the recipient of the Association of American Publishers’ R.R. Hawkins Award for the Outstanding Scholarly Book of 2004 and the Texas Institute of Letters award for the best nonfiction book of 2004.
Co-chair of the Council on Contemporary Families, Mintz will discuss the book at the organization’s May 13 awards luncheon.

The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and other publications have given positive reviews to the book. The Washington Post calls Huck’s Raft “a rich and stimulating book, revealing how much childhood has changed over the centuries and how much some things never change.”

In addition to his awards for “Huck’s Raft,” Mintz also received the University Continuing Education Association (Region South) Faculty Award for his significant contributions and services to continuing and distance education.

He and Sara McNeil, specialist in instructional technology and associate professor of curriculum and instruction, also received a nearly $200,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant to expand their Web site, “Digital History.” The Web site provides resources and strategies designed to facilitate history research for middle school, high school and college teachers and students.

A member of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Board of Advisers, Mintz directs two U.S. Department of Education “Teaching American History” grants for UH.

Francine Parker
fparker@uh.edu