Teen Spirit offers a novel and provocative perspective on how we came to be living in an age of political immaturity and social turmoil. Award-winning author Paul Howe argues it's because a teenage mentality has slowly gripped the adult world. Howe contends that many features of how we live today-some regrettable, others beneficial-can be traced to the emergence of a more defined adolescent stage of life in the early twentieth century, when young people started spending their formative, developmental years with peers, particularly in formal school settings. He shows how adolescent qualities have slowly seeped upward, where they have gradually reshaped the norms and habits of adulthood. The effects over the long haul, Howe contends, have been profound, in both the private realm and in the public arena of political, economic, and social interaction. Our teenage traits remain part of us as we move into adulthood, so much so that some now need instruction manuals for adulting. Teen Spirit challenges our assumptions about the boundaries between adolescence and adulthood. Yet despite a cultural system that seems to be built on the ethos of Generation Me, it's not all bad. In fact, there has been an equally impressive rise in creativity, diversity, and tolerance within society: all traits stemming from core components of the adolescent character. Howe's bold and suggestive approach to analyzing the teen in all of us helps make sense of the impulsivity driving society and encourages us to think anew about civic reengagement.

The world faces eternal damnation at the hands of the ultimate evil. The only chance for salvation lies in the hands of a young university student who is told by a Buddhist monk that he is the one who must defeat the Devil himself. How can he achieve this seemingly impossible task? Where should he start? Why him? And what are these strange powers and special talents he has mysteriously developed? The answers gradually fall into place as total strangers become trusted friends and together, they find themselves facing wave after nightmare-ish wave of ghouls, daemons, shape-shifters, trolls and dark angels from the depths of Hell. They fear there can only be one inevitable outcome but it's too terrifying to contemplate and together they must summon up every bit of strength and find every potential ally as they face a final desperate battle for survival and salvation.

Many political observers, struck by low turnout rates among young voters, are pessimistic about the future of democracy in Canada and other Western nations. Citizens in general are disengaged from politics, and young people in particular are said to be adrift in a sea of apathy. Others have questioned this bleak assessment, arguing that youth engagement has shifted to newer forms of political and community involvement. In Citizens Adrift, Paul Howe examines past and present patterns of political and civic engagement and concludes that many young Canadians are, in fact, deeply detached from the public realm. Two trends underlie his findings: waning political knowledge and attentiveness and generational changes in the norms and values that help sustain social integration. Citizens Adrift shows that, in order to devise policy initiatives that put young people back on the path towards engaged citizenship, we must acknowledge that democratic engagement extends beyond the realm of formal politics. By linking political engagement to broader social and cultural changes, Citizens Adrift maps out a holistic approach to the problem of democratic disengagement, one with broad applicability across the Western democracies.