For over a century, summer camps have provided millions of American children with their first taste of the world outside their family and neighborhood. The first commercial camp began in 1881; at the end of the nineteenth century, a handful of camps served elite Protestant boys almost exclusively. In the early twentieth century, the industry extended and diversified its reach. At its peak in the prosperous years after World War II, about one in six children attended camp. Camp is still an important part of many children's summers: while the traditional eight week private camp is no longer as popular as once it was, in the late 1990s over eight million children and adolescents between the ages of five and seventeen attend a wide variety of camps—5500 overnight and 3000 day camps—each summer. While day camps, short-term overnight camps and specialty camps serve increasing numbers of children...