Introduction

There is a small fortune to be made writing about the young. Neil Howe and the late William Strauss showed that in 1991 with their bestselling Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069, and since then, Howe and Strauss have had a host of imitators. Our national fascination with the young makes sense. It is more than a product of America's historic fascination with youth culture. Parents want to know more about their children. Teachers want to know more about their students. Movie and television producers want to know more about their audiences. It helps to be able to distinguish between the interests of Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1981), and Millennials (1982-2003), and giving a label to each of these cohorts makes talking about them easier.