Teenagers--as we have come to define them--were not, journalist Savage tells us, born in the 1950s of rockers and Beatniks, when most histories would begin. Rather, the teenager as icon can be traced back to the 1890s, when the foundations for the new century were laid in urban youth culture. This cultural history charts the spread of the American ideal of youth through England and Europe and around the world. From Peter Pan to Oscar Wilde, Anne Frank to the Wizard of Oz, Savage documents youth culture's development as a commodity and an industry from the turn of the last century to its current driving force in the global economy. Fusing film, music, literature, diaries, fashion, and art, this epic cultural history is a surprising chronicle of modern life sure to appeal to pop culture fans, social history buffs, and anyone who has ever been a teenager.--From publisher description.

Originally published: Teenage : the creation of youth culture, 2007.

1: 1875-1904 -- Heaven and hell / Marie Bashkirtseff and Jesse Pomeroy -- Nationalists and decadents : the European counterrevolution -- Hooligans and Apaches : juvenile delinquency and the mass media -- "A sudden vision of heaven" / L. Frank Baum and the Dreamland of Oz -- The american century / G. Stanley Hall and adolescence -- 2: 1904-1913 -- Peter Pan and the Boy Scouts / Imperial British Youth -- High school freshmen and factory fodder / American adolescence and industry -- Wandervogel and Neo-Pagans : Europe's back-to-nature movements -- Nickelodeons and animal dances : the American dream economy -- 3: 1912-1919 -- Invocation : the European generation gap -- Sacrifice : the war dead and the young against the old -- The class of 1902 : juvenile delinquency and the great war -- Jazz bands and doughboys : American youth enters Europe -- 4: 1919-1929 -- Postwar shocks : the Fascisti, the German bunde, and the woodcraft folk -- Sheiks and shebas : the American youth market -- The Cinderella complex : the problems of America's mass culture -- The pursuit of pleasure : the bright young people -- 5: 1930-1939 -- The soldiers of an idea : the Hitler youth -- The children's army and the New Deal : American adolescents in the depression -- Biff boys and the red menace : the polarization of British youth -- Jitterbugs and ickies : American swing and youth consumerism -- 6: 1939-1943 -- Conquerors and overlords : the Hitler youth at war and at home -- Reluctant conscripts and Socialist heroes : British youth at war -- Sub-Debs and GIs : American adolescents in school and in uniform -- German swing kids and French Zazous : swing in Nazi Europe -- Zoot-suiters and victory girls : American unrest in 1943 -- 7: 1942-1945 -- The peaceful invaders : American soldiers and British youth -- Helmuth Hubener, the white rose, and Anne Frank : resistance in Nazi Europe -- The arrival of the teenager : the launch of seventeen -- Year zero : the teenager triumphant.