This encyclopedia provides comprehensive information on youth and war. Beginning with the 30 Years' War in the 17th century and ending with the conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo, the encyclopedia covers children and youth from birth to age 18, with additional materials on young adults from 18 to 24 years of age. The encyclopedia includes over 300 cross-referenced entries on nearly all aspects of youth and war, including information about: (1) how young people were affected by or took part in a particular war; (2) types of wartime services rendered by children, including espionage, resistance movements, child soldiers, and victory gardens; (3) how youth have worked to prevent or end war; (4) organizations and individuals who have taken on the plight of children in war zones; and (5) physical, spiritual, emotional, social, and economic effects of war on children and youth. On the subject of how war and post-war conditions impede children's education, the encyclopedia discusses World War II in detail, paying attention to how textbooks and teaching materials that reflected Nazi ideals gave children constant messages that Jews were to blame for Germany's problems, and how school routines and rituals reinforced Nazism. The encyclopedia contains a preface, an extensive bibliography, an index, an annotated listing of films about children and youth in war, and numerous print and Internet references. (BT)