The Vanishing American Adult

by Ben Sasse

Category: Political Science

Book Reviews

  • @amchenault Depends on what I’m writing about. When I wrote my most recent essay about Peter Thiel, I read multiple books of Rene Girard interviews. Now, I’m writing about adulthood and reading “The Vanishing American Adult.” https://t.co/HklaWOyeZqLink to Tweet
  • @ffumarola @mdudas @AdamSinger @nikillinit @BlairReeves @mr_james_c @skupor @danprimack @FT I would read the Vanishing American Adult before congratulating ourselves on rearing children recently.Link to Tweet

About Book

America's youth are in crisis. Raised by well-meaning but overprotective parents and coddled by well-meaning but misbegotten government programs, they are ill-equipped to survive in our highly-competitive global economy. Many of the coming-of-age rituals that have defined the American experience since the Founding: learning the value of working with your hands, leaving home to start a family, becoming economically self-reliant--are being delayed or skipped altogether. The statistics are daunting: 30% of college students drop out after the first year, and only 4 in 10 graduate. One in three 18-to-34 year-olds live with their parents. From these disparate phenomena: Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse who as president of a Midwestern college observed the trials of this generation up close, sees an existential threat to the American way of life. In The Vanishing American Adult, Sasse diagnoses the causes of a generation that can't grow up and offers a path for raising children to become active and engaged citizens. He identifies core formative experiences that all young people should pursue: hard work to appreciate the benefits of labor, travel to understand deprivation and want, the power of reading, the importance of nurturing your body--and explains how parents can encourage them. Our democracy depends on responsible, contributing adults to function properly--without them America falls prey to populist demagogues. A call to arms in the tradition of The Closing of the American Mind and a manifesto for parents in the traditions of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, The Vanishing American Adult will ignite a much-needed debate about the link between the way we're raising our children and the future of our country.

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