Focusing on the reigns of Frederick the Great of Prussia (1740-86) and Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-80), James Van Horn Melton examines in this book the origins, aims, and achievements of the compulsory school movements in these states. Melton draws on a broad range of sources to show how school reform was part of a broader effort to transform social, economic, and cultural behavior at the popular level.
Reviews
"James Van Horn Melton has produced an important work on the educational policies of the absolute state and the social purposes behind them." The Eighteenth Century