Child Soldiers in the Western Imagination: From Patriots to Victims By DavidM. Rosen. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015 ISBN: 9780813563701, 238 pp, £26.95 (pb)

Using children under the age of 15 in armed conflicts is a crime under international law. But when did the practice of child soldiering become problematic in the Western world? David Rosen, in his most recent book Child Soldiers in the Western Imagination: From Patriots to Victims, touches upon this shift in cultural attitudes on the use of child soldiers. The author analyzes how underage combatants were imagined in the 18th and 19th centuries as opposed to their current representations in law, politics and popular culture. Contemporary humanitarian discourse on children's rights defines childhood as a period of innocence and happiness. Children are accepted to be the most vulnerable subjects of modern-day societies. Despite the increasing protective mechanisms, children in the Global South have been involved in brutal wars as combatants for decades. Rosen, by showing that child soldiering was once celebrated and widespread in the West, juxtaposes two different imaginations of child combatants, that is, heroic child soldiers of earlier centuries and abused child soldiers of today. Historicizing child soldiery is an important contribution to the literature since humanitarian language decontextualises the practice of recruiting minors. The author, by comparing the early and contemporary attitudes towards child soldiers, criticises the human rights discourse which depicts Western societies as saviours of the Global South. Human rights reports represent children of the region as pathological, who lack agency and maturity. In contrast, just two centuries ago, Western countries were willing to recruit children to be soldiers, whom they viewed capable to fight on the front lines. Rosen draws upon several cases from the American Revolution, World War I and World War II to show the reader that child soldiering was a glorified practice in the West before the emergence of children's rights discourse in the second half of the 20th century. Focusing on the national conscription policies in the USA and the UK, Rosen states that all British colonies had practiced child soldiering as a national policy until the end of the World War I. In addition, the author addresses the widespread and systematic enlistment of children during the World War II especially under the Nazi regime. The book also uncovers inhumane treatment faced by underage war prisoners in the mid-20th century. The author discusses contemporary legal mechanisms of child protection and the discourse of childhood vulnerability. Rosen examines complex legal responses to child soldiering practices in different parts of the world. The chapter in which Rosen analyzes different representations of child soldiers in popular culture is the most interesting part of the book and will attract the attention of readers interested in cultural analysis. He analyzes 19th-century European literature in which child combatants were represented as heroes. In Rosen's selection of contemporary Western juvenile literature, such as the Harry Potter series, child combatants are still being glorified. In contrast, Rosen underscores, young soldiers from the Global South are either unrepresented or depicted as victims. The author also analyzes several movies, including Ivan's Childhood by Tarkovsky, a well-known film director, and the image of a brave child soldier from the Soviet Union. For readers who are familiar with the books and movies discussed by Rosen, it will be striking to reconsider these cultural products from a different and a critical lens. The historical part, however, mostly relies on the British and American experiences. Rosen could include some examples from other Western countries and their colonies to broaden the historical context. For instance, it would be interesting to see how child soldiering was practiced in overseas colonies and how the participation of indigenous or non-White children in the wars was viewed. This would illustrate to what extent the discourse of patriotic and heroic child soldiers was applied in the West. Child Soldiers in the Western Imagination: From Patriots to Victims is fascinating for readers from different backgrounds, including sociology, law, history and anthropology. Although the book is written in historical sequence, chapters can be read separately. The legal discussion provides a strong summary of the complexities surrounding international criminal law and international human rights law and are easily understood by those outside the field. The accessible language makes Rosen's book a singularly important source in understanding the complexities of child soldiering.

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