This book offers a novel and provocative perspective on how we came to be living in an age of political immaturity and social turmoil. The book argues it's because a teenage mentality has slowly gripped the adult world. It contends that many features of how we live today — some regrettable, others beneficial — can be traced to the emergence of a more defined adolescent stage of life in the early twentieth century, when young people started spending their formative, developmental years with peers, particularly in formal school settings. The book shows how adolescent qualities have slowly seeped ... More

This book offers a novel and provocative perspective on how we came to be living in an age of political immaturity and social turmoil. The book argues it's because a teenage mentality has slowly gripped the adult world. It contends that many features of how we live today — some regrettable, others beneficial — can be traced to the emergence of a more defined adolescent stage of life in the early twentieth century, when young people started spending their formative, developmental years with peers, particularly in formal school settings. The book shows how adolescent qualities have slowly seeped upward, where they have gradually reshaped the norms and habits of adulthood. The effects over the long haul, the book contends, have been profound, in both the private realm and in the public arena of political, economic, and social interaction. Our teenage traits remain part of us as we move into adulthood, so much so that some now need instruction manuals for adulting. This book challenges our assumptions about the boundaries between adolescence and adulthood. Yet despite a cultural system that seems to be built on the ethos of Generation Me, it's not all bad. In fact, there has been an equally impressive rise in creativity, diversity, and tolerance within society: all traits stemming from core components of the adolescent character. The book helps make sense of the impulsivity driving society and encourages us to think anew about civic reengagement.