| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Seduced, Abandoned, and Reborn: Visions of Youth in Middle-Class America, 1780–1850. By Rodney Hessinger. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. 255 pp. $45.00, ISBN 0-8122-3879-6.)

At no time was the passage from adolescence to adulthood less predictable, orderly, or uniform than in the early nineteenth century. Following the Revolution, forms of dependency—such as apprenticeship and indentured and household service—that had structured colonial youths' experience eroded. Patriarchal and communal controls over courtship, sexuality, and marriage weakened. Meanwhile, young adults' options and opportunities expanded. Rates of geographic mobility increased, and young people acquired greater freedom in selecting a spouse, an occupation, a place of residence, and a religious affiliation. At the same time, the cultural marketplace directed increasing attention to youth, offering the young an expanded variety of commercial amusements.

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