The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager Review

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Today, because of the massive American youth culture, we take the descriptive term "teenager" for granted. Young people enter their teenager years and seem to become part of another world, children no longer, but not full participants in the adult culture of work and responsibility. At one time, teenagers wanted to grow up rapidly, aspiring to take on the trappings of adulthood as quickly as possible, but today millions of young men and women seem dedicated to hanging on to their youth through their thirties and forties. Because of the pervasiveness of the youth culture, we have forgotten that the concept of a teenager is a social development and a relatively recent one. The idea of the teenager only occurred as America began to achieve relative affluence, when parents - whether farmers or shopkeepers - could afford to have their offspring attend school for a longer time. As these young people began to attend secondary school - and it was only in the 1920's when more than half of our children were educated through high school - and to have more leisure time, the term "teenager" was coined. It was this combination of time and affluence that made the teenager a young consumer to be marketed to. In "The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager" Thomas Hine shows the evolution of the concept of the teenager and the history of American youth culture. He is a professional journalist who writes with a strong narrative drive. He has an eye for detail and is particularly adept at choosing interesting subjects for his books and articles. By following young adults throughout American history, he has shown a light on a subject that has not been illuminated in the same way before.


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Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Youth, Family, and Culture) Review

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(More customer reviews)My roommate was given this book a few months back. Since I work with the Jr. High group at church, I figured I might find it helpful, so picked it up. What I found was a thought provoking book on today's youth sub-culture.
The book focuses most on high school students or mid-adolescents as the author calls them. His premise is that adults have started abandoning kids early in life, making the transition from childhood to adulthood a longer and harder process. Teens draw away from adults, not as much out of rebellion, but to cope. The majority of this book is devoted to various aspects of teen life and how it develops and plays out. Chapters such as Peers, School, Family, and Sports hit the nail on the head. And I'll confess I found some shocking stuff in the chapters on Sex, Ethics, and the Party Scene.
I did have some problems with this book. At times, it seemed to go too far into the self-esteem trap. Yes, we need to care for kids, but we also need to acknowledge that not everyone is created equal, something that seemed to be over looked at times. Still, most his examples were of things going too far in the other direction, which makes his points very valid.
Another area was the various ethics discussions. While many of these chapters were eye opening for me, he never addressed ways to teach morals. In fact, he seems to blame adults for problems such as cheating but never blames the kids or discuss how the problem should be addressed.
The last two chapters are a discussion of ways to solve the problem of abandonment, but they seem to be impractical and fall short. City wide meetings for everyone involved with youth? What we really need is a radical shift in our entire culture. Not that I'm exactly sure how to go about doing that, either. So I'm probably little better then he is.
On the whole, this book is an eye-opener about the problems today's high schoolers face. While not perfect, it should be read by anyone who cares about today's teens. Maybe then we can come up with workable solutions to let them know we do care.

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What do teenagers really think about adults? If you think you know the answer, you may be in for a surprise. According to Chap Clark, today's adolescents have largely been abandoned by adults and left to fend for themselves in an uncertain world. As a result, teens have created their own world to serve as a shield against uncaring adults. Based on six months of participant-observer research at a California public school, this book offers a somewhat troubling but insightful snapshot of adolescent life. It will surprise and enlighten parents, youth workers, counselors, pastors, and all who want to better understand the hearts and minds of America's adolescents.

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Real Boys : Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood Review

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(More customer reviews)There have been a number of complaints about this book ranging from thoughtful to narrow-minded and ridiculuous. Among the top three criticisms are: (1) it is based on vague "research" by the author (2) it is repetitive, and (my favorite) (3) it suggests that parents raise boys as effeminate or as "girls".
First of all, many of the people who reviewed this book complained that it was written in a clinical jargon, that at times, made it unavailable to the casual reader. In the same breath, these readers demand that scientific citations be presented every time Pollack begins a sentence with "My research shows". In essence, they are demanding scientific text devoid of scientific terminology. It's in the back, look it up. Furthermore, Pollack is a Ph.d in Psychology, and as such, probably does his research empirically. It is unlikely that he would publish phony results for all of his scientific peers to see and criticize if such results had no grounding in reality or even a kernel of truth to them.
I also feel that Pollack's seemigly repetitive writing style was a necessary ingredient in this book. He is not merely cudgeling us with case study after case study to make us cry, or to fill 400 pages. Rather, he is emphasizing the fact that the problems discussed in the text are problems for a great many boys and not just a few isolated incidences. A few depressed individuals is not news; an epidemic is. He is suggesting an epidemic.
Some individuals also stated that this book is based on common sense, such as don't call your son a "sissy" etc. If it is common sense, why is it still a problem? People need to be made aware of this growing epidemic and that many boys still recieve this treatment, despite it being common sense that they should not be raised that way.
Finally, there is the claim that Pollack is preaching that parents raise their boys as "girls" or to be "effeminate". This criticism is so ridiculous that it is almost unworthy of a rebuttle. These individuals are unable to imagine a nominal area between extremes; they are only able to see in black and white. Pollack is hardly suggesting that boys should cry every time they get a paper-cut in order to be in touch with their feelings. Rather, he confronts the fact that boys have been conditioned to hold in their deepest fears and anxieties; things that really damage a boy's sense of well-being if he is unable to express or work through them in any way. This is a completely different concept from teaching a boy to be a girl; it is encouraging the boy to be a human being.
It is true that this is not an "end-all-be-all" book about boys in the context of modern society. However, it is an important step forward in acknowledging the existence of a developing problem worthy of our consideration.

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