About the Author

Jean M. Twenge, PhD, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than a hundred scientific publications and two books based on her research, Generation Me and The Narcissism Epidemic, as well as The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant. Her research has been covered in Time, The Atlantic, Newsweek, The New York Times, USA TODAY, and The Washington Post. She has also been featured on the Today show, Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, CBS This Morning, and National Public Radio. She lives in San Diego with her husband and three daughters.

Reviews

"An informed, rollicking look at the epidemic narcissism, illusory optimism, and anxiety and depression of today's younger Americans. Compelling reading...Generation Me is marvelously written with a sparkling humor." -- David G. Myers, author of The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty

"Twenge does a huge, decidedly un-GenX amount of research and replaces [hunches] with actual data.... [L]ucid and entertaining...bold...refreshing." -- Chris Colin, author of What Really Happened to the Class of '93

In this breezy, insightful sociological analysis of Generation Me, San Diego State University psychologist Twenge-herself a member of the cohort born between the 1970s and 1990s-explains all from the inside out. Sociocultural reasons account for the differences between boomers and their progeny. Principally, she attributes the apparent narcissism of Gen Me to the self-esteem movement of the past 20 years: parents and schools have sacrificed rigor for good feelings. Thus, Gen Me, with its "you can be anything you want to be" mantra, is accustomed to receiving rewards divorced from actual accomplishment, which promotes a sense of entitlement that is a grave disservice in the real world of work. With heightened expectations, young people become anxious and depressed when they discover that life isn't what they were promised. And in today's inflated housing market, Gen Me abandons hope of achieving financial independence, much less success. This book is reminiscent of boomer books like Jerry Rubin's Growing Up at Thirty-Seven. Recommended for large public libraries and university collections.-Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

-- David G. Myers, author of The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty
"Twenge does a huge, decidedly un-GenX amount of research and replaces [hunches] with actual data.... [L]ucid and entertaining...bold...refreshing."

-- Chris Colin, author of What Really Happened to the Class of '93