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  • The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of Modern Canada, 1920 to 1950
  • Nicole Neatby
The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of Modern Canada, 1920 to 1950. Cynthia Comacchio. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006. Pp. 312, $65.00

In the Dominion of Youth, Cynthia Comacchio analyzes the socio-historic construction of English-Canadian adolescence during the interwar period. While recognizing that adolescence as a category is not born at this time, she argues that the period sees the emergence of a 'new, different – modern – generation' (7) as adolescents increasingly develop a generational consciousness (8). She documents the rise of this modern consciousness by looking at how youth is configured differently by observers, and by focusing on aspects of adolescent life that include intergenerational relations, dating, high school education, paid employment, youth culture, and organizations. Underpinning this analysis is the author's contention that 'for each of the three decades . . . a world crisis – the Great War, the Great Depression and World War II – proved the necessary trigger for . . . a generational consciousness' (8). Adding yet another layer to her thesis, she argues that these adolescents 'were developing citizens in a developing nation, beings intent on self-formation and precious maturity in a Canada pursuing much the same goals' (214).

This study is remarkable on several fronts. No study to date has analyzed concomitantly the evolving social perceptions of youth, and the changing attitudes and activities of teenagers alongside an analysis of wider social developments in such depth and over such an extended period of time. For the most part, historians have focused on the 'youth problem' as it was perceived in shorter periods, the experiences and attitudes of those attending university in various decades, or those of the baby boom generation. Not unrelated to these accomplishments is her impressive use of extensive and varied sources. In addition to myriad print sources, she enriches her analysis by including direct testimonies – biographical recollections of adolescents. Not surprisingly she concedes that 'this was easily the most challenging part of this project' (15).

Of equal significance is the fact that her study lays new 'historiographical ground work' that will assuredly become a mandatory point of departure for future scholars interested in youth. A sampling of her conclusions in which she points to various 'firsts' will make this apparent. The author's conclusion that 'the minds and bodies of adolescents became objects of much keener examination and regulation than ever before in history' (24) is thoroughly documented and qualifies assumptions that youth have been perceived as a 'problem' at specific times. To her credit she recognizes that her [End Page 401] findings lead to paradoxical discoveries, opening the door to further inquiry. Indeed, while she concludes that youth came to 'signify a whole new problem, a modern problem that pointed to a steadily rising number of social evils' (43), her evidence also suggests that adolescents 'emerged as the shining icon of the new day' (21), reminding us of society's perennial ambivalence towards youth and modernity.

Her attention to adolescents' multiplicity of experience based on race, class, and gender also steers her away from simplistic generalizations and the recognition that some things did not change. She brings to light trends that in her own words are 'startling' (155), such as the fact that 'among farm and working class youth full time labour remained the true rite of passage' (159). Such a finding would seem counterintuitive in view of increasing high school attendance. Maybe less startling, she also notes that ideas about appropriate young male and female behaviour were still very much in line with traditional gender roles. And of particular interest to those who have argued for the singularity of the baby boom youth experience and its wide social impact, will be Comacchio's discovery that well before the 1960s 'youth itself became a modern consumer product' (180). In the emerging context of a consumer society, she demonstrates that 'the language of the new, of the modern, of youth itself, became the seller's language,' again, forcing us to revisit well-entrenched assumptions.

Although far from detracting from this study's unquestionable contribution to the field, it should be noted that...

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