The prime of life : a history of modern adulthood The first history of American adulthood The Prime of Life examines how succeeding generations of Americans dealt with the primary tasks of adulthood: Navigating the passage from youth to maturity achieving intimacy and connection raising the next generation experiencing works pleasures and pains and wresting meaning from lifes losses and stresses. Highly attentive to class ethnicity gender and race this book draws upon a wealth of private letters and other previously untapped sources to challenge a host of misconceptions that distort public thinking today. These include the myths that the transition to adulthood was smoother and more seamless in the past and that adulthood was more stable and predictable than it has since become. But this book does something more. It underscores womens historical role in driving fundamental changes in attitudes toward love friendship marriage childrearing and work. It demonstrates the ways that social class has differentiated adult experience. It also reconstructs the emotional interior of a life stage too often treated as fit only for self help books or novels dealing with the travails of the suburban middle class. It not only recaptures adulthoods joys and disappointments its hopes and frustrated expectations its soaring dreams and bitter regrets it demonstrates that development across the life span is shaped less by psychology than by cultural and historical circumstances Provided by publisher