Professor Mays, well-known for his book Growing up in the city, here offers us ‘an essay on the social significance of adolescence’. After an illuminating chapter on the social theory of adolescence he goes on to describe the adolescent's task in coming to terms with society, the self and life as a whole. He makes some detailed comparisons between youth in Britain and America, and in a chapter suggesting remedy for the adolescent malaise, lays great emphasis on the efficacy of education.

He quotes widely and includes a useful bibliography and index, with a mention of Jung's Two essays on analytical psychology.

For the psychotherapist concerned with adolescents the book provides a useful source of background information; its value would have been increased if Professor Mays had incorporated and included the message of Norman Kiell's book The universal experience of adolescence.