Making Youth: A History of Youth in Modern Britain

Making Youth represents an authoritative, accessible and thoroughly absorbing account of the place of young people in the development of modern Britain. Melanie Tebbutt delivers a comprehensive, lucid and judicious survey of the shifting social experiences and cultural significance of British youth across two centuries.' - William Osgerby, London Metropolitan University, UK 'This engaging text presents a rich and detailed account of the transformations surrounding youth in modern Britain. Tebbutt skilfully carves out the similarities and differences in young people's lives over the last two centuries, and traces the invention and extension of youth as a category more broadly. An important book filled with examples to grab the reader's attention.' - Sarah Mills, Loughborough University, UK

This new study explores how British youth was made, and how it made itself, over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Adopting a chronological approach to a number of key themes and debates, Melanie Tebbutt compares and contrasts representations and lived experiences while emphasising diversity and the need to recognise regional differences.This new study explores how British youth was made, and how it made itself, over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Urbanisation and industrialisation brought challenges that altered how young people were both perceived and understood. As adults found it difficult to comprehend the rapidity of societal change, focus on the young intensified, and they became a symbol of uncertainty about the future. Highlighting both change and striking continuity, Melanie Tebbutt traces the origins and development of key themes and debates in the history of modern British youth. Current issues such as the ageing of western societies, high levels of youth unemployment and the potential for social and political unrest make this a timely study.