Teenagers occupy a special place in American life. They are envied and sold to, studied and deplored. They seem to be growing up too fast, and always immature. They are barbarians at the gate-and our only hope for a better world. What, then, is this thing called "teenager"-this strong, troubling creature caught somewhere between the rock of youth and the hard place of adulthood?

As author Thomas Hine reveals in this groundbreaking work, the teenager is a social invention shaped by the needs of the twentieth century. With intelligence, insight, imagination and humor, Hine 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 contemporary thirteen-to-nineteen-year-olds. He masterfully examines the ways in which young people have adapted over generations to meet-or at times to revise-the expectations and mores of their time. Here is an extraordinary story of torches passed, a saga of sons and daughters of settlers, immigrants, slaves and farmers coming to terms with their world and building America as they did so.

The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager is a story of radical Massachusetts factory girls; teenage coal miners supporting their families; pistol-packing, whiskey-swilling frontier youths-and also of teenagers, dependent young people preparing for their lives by going to school even as they shape their culture as arbiters of the new. Throughout our turbulent history, generations of youths have stood at the forefront of social change-calculating the odds, taking the risks, and learning how to survive and thrive in the times. Thomas Hine's remarkable contribution is a focused study and a glorious appreciation of youth that challenges us to confront our stereotypes, to rethink our expectations and to consider anew the lives of those individuals-some of them living under our roofs-who are, as always, our blessing, our bane, and our future.

Amazon.com Review
Providing a historical perspective on a modern phenomenon is no easy task, but Thomas Hine has done an admirable job cataloging that ever-changing creature we know as the American teenager. Beginning with a look at colonial times and ending with the present-day burger-flipping menaces portrayed in the press, The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager is a fascinating look at a culture that we take for granted in these times, yet is quite a recent development. Looking deeply at the economic and educational realities of people ages 10 through 20 over the last 300 years, Hine takes readers through a world where teens were expected to contribute greatly to their family's financial well-being; in fact, in the early years of the industrial revolution, employers would often refuse to hire the head of the household unless he had several sons to offer as part of a package deal. While the first few chapters cover 50 to 100 years in one shot, time moves less rapidly beginning with the 20th century, and each decade earns its own complete chapter. Using personal stories from revolutionary-era students, 19th-century millworkers and immigrants, and classic all-American cheerleaders from the 1950s, we're given an accurate picture of what life was really like for inexperienced kids. The evolution of modern education is closely examined and will provide a wealth of interesting insights for today's educators. What was once meant as a viable alternative to the college experience has now simply become a holding pen for teens, some who may go on to a university, some who are destined to join the ranks of the perpetually underemployed. The last chapter offers a few possible suggestions for bringing realistic change into the current system; the rest of the book is sure to provide plenty of inspiration for readers to invent their own set of educational possibilities. --Jill Lightner