Strengthening Young Bodies, Building the Nation

"While following a traditional historical approach, this book provides 'a grand narrative' on public health and children's health and care, putting at its center a consideration mainly (if not exclusively) of state institutions and the agency of relevant personalities involved in institutional policies. At the same time, with respect to the Greek case, this book can serve as a basis for elaborating advanced conceptual questions that are raised in multidisciplinary childhood studies such as how childhood and the subject 'child' are constituted by the diffusion of medical power and medical and body technologies."—Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth

"All in all, Strengthening Young Bodies, Building the Nation is without doubt a valuable tool and an excellent guide for the social history of public health and the construction of childhood, successfully fulfilling its main purpose; namely, to convey 'the many political meanings attached to children's care' and to reveal 'the continuities and discontinuities of the efforts undertaken' regarding children's health and welfare in Greece during the years 1890–1940."—Vasia Lekka, European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health