Rating: 
Summary: nothing more than a boring textbook
Review: Thomas Hine's "The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager" is based on a very interesting topic, one which I was extremely excited to learn more about. However, when I began reading the book, I was immediately turned off by Hine's writing style. Hine took a topic that could have been a great work of sociology, and turned it into nothing more than a textbook of history. Occasionally, he gets off topic, and uses first person not to share his own experiences, but to say something like, "I have already talked about..." His sources aren't cited in the text, and his sentences are short, choppy, and have no real flow to them. He often touches on greatness and his writing at times flourishes, but for the most part, the book reads like a poorly completed textbook. Everything I got from this book's 300 pages can be gathered by simply reading the inner sleeve of the cover and the preface. No real need to waste your time here.
Rating: 
Summary: American Teenager ...review
Review: Tom Hine's book, The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager, perceptively traces the 3-century history of younger people (those in their teen years) in Colonial and 18th century times, and on to the creation of the "teenager," as a result of post World War I growth of high schools. Throughout Hine chronicles how these younger people have been distrusted and viewed with panic by adults. The decline of the teenager, Hine says, is shown by high school tribalism, with numerous cults and subcults, silently posing in public, but communicating with no one but themselves. This is a witty and valuable book, one that should be in the library of every American parent. -- Forrest R. Pitts, Prof. of Geography (Emeritus)
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