Full of Grace: A Journey through the History of Childhood Ray Merritt Children often serve as the scales on which the triumphs and failures of societies are weighed. When governments undertake significant action, it is often for the avowed purpose of making the world a better place for our children's generation. When children meet or exceed expectations, it is a source of immense adult pride; when they do not, or fall prey to man's inhumanity, it is somehow the fault of society. Children are viewed as humankind's most precious asset, so it is understandable that photographers, practitioners of the most democratic and prolific of art forms, have always chosen them as a principal subject. Surveying the last 150 years in words and images, Full of Grace offers a fascinating and often provocative view of society's understandable obsession with the construct of childhood.