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.