Description
Book SynopsisExamines, through an analysis of seven high school newspapers, the evolution of civic and political participation among young people in the United States since 1965.
Trade Review“Jay Childers's work places itself within the scholarly conversation accurately, repeatedly, and convincingly, and Childers uses primary texts that, to my knowledge, have not been frequently investigated by other scholars.”
—Vanessa Beasley,Vanderbilt University
“We need to understand how youths experience their own citizenship if we want to reform education and politics. Because The Evolving Citizen draws on the students’ own voices and ideas, interpreted insightfully, it is a valuable and skillful contribution to our understanding of citizenship today. It is a significant book—methodologically innovative, persuasive, and carrying an important message.”
—Peter Levine,Tufts University
“The Evolving Citizen is an engaging look at the changing ways in which America’s teens write about their political and civic environment. This important inventory of how youths adapt to the realities of their times and alter the meaning of democracy offers reasons for hope and concern. By spanning five decades, Jay Childers’s examination of how young adults have shifted their areas of focus, their levels of engagement, and the issues they find most riveting provides insight into the evolving meaning of citizenship and changing norms of civic engagement. This is a welcome addition to the literature, offering a ground-level look at ordinary democracy.”
—Gerard A. Hauser,University of Colorado Boulder
Table of Contents Contents
Acknowledgments
1 American Youth: Who They Are and Why They Matter
2 American High School: Teenagers and Scholastic Journalism
3 Dislocated Cosmopolitans
4 Removed Volunteers
5 Protective Critics
6 Independent Joiners
7 American Evolution, Democratic Engagement, and Civic Education
Notes
Index
