The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager - by Thomas Hine (Paperback)

About the Book

Journalist Thomas Hine makes a brilliant, provocative, and entertaining examination of the creation and history of a unique social invention--the American teenager.

Book Synopsis

In the groundbreaking work, Thomas Hine examines the American teenager as a social invention shaped by the needs of the twentieth century. With intelligence, insight, imagination, and humorm he traces the culture of youth in America-from the spiritual trials of young Puritans and the vision quests of Native Americans to the media-blitzed consumerism of contempory thirteen-to-nineteen -year-olds. The resulting study is a glorious appreciation of youth that challenges us to confront our sterotypesm, rethink our expectations, and consider anew the lives of those individuals who are blessing, our bane, and our future.

Review Quotes

"Hine backs his lively, anecdotal history with well-digested research...For those wondering how we got from Plymouth Rock to Littleton, Colorado, "The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager provides plenty of answers."--"Seattle Weekly"An intriguing cultural history...Comprehensively researched, smoothly persuasive...Hine's book examines the role of young people throughout the history of the United States and concludes that our archetypal perceptions--of Gidget and Moesha, of mall rats and gangbangers, of Leopold & Loeb and the Trench Coat Mafia--are way off."--"San Jose Mercury News"Fascinating and highly persuasive."--"Slate"Hine offers perspectives rather than prescriptions, but his mercifully calm perspective does suggest some useful things we can do about teenagers to make their lives better."--Molly Ivins"Hine's very act of putting today's teenagers in a context alongside the musket-toting, factory-working youth of America's past broadens the reader's vision and loosens stereotypes at a time when creative thinking about teenagers is called for."--"Philadelphia Inquirer"