A veteran journalist's riveting inside look at life on today's college campuses After 30 years as a correspondent and editor for Time magazine, in his late fifties, Barrett Seaman embarked on a two-year quest to uncover the real story of college life today and to see how undergraduate living has changed since he was at college in the turbulent late 1960s. After months of reporting on the campuses of 12 diverse colleges and universities across North America Harvard, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Hamilton, the University of Virginia, Duke, Indiana University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Cal-Berkeley, Stanford, Pomona, and Canada's McGill Seaman discovered that the differences between college life then and now are profound indeed. Res Life depicts a campus culture in which today's best and brightest students suffer from emotional problems and stress that is often self-induced.Talking to students on their own terms, Seaman reveals the sense of isolation students feel from the real world as well as the sexual confusion and ambivalence many feel in an environment in which relationships are formed through hanging out and hooking up and sometimes broken by the violence of date rape. Alcohol is the forbidden drug of choice, and far too much is consumed. And there is still far too much bigotry and intolerance on campus today. Despite many disturbing trends, though, Seaman ultimately found today's students up for today's challenges and eager to take their place in the adult world if only they were given the chance giving him cause for hope.

In "Binge," Barrett Seaman reveals what every parent, student, and educator needs to know about the college experience. Seaman spent time with students at twelve highly regarded and diverse colleges and universities across North America-. During his two years of research, he immersed himself in the lives of the students, often living in their dorms, dining with them, speaking with them on their own terms, and listening to them express their thoughts and feelings. Portraying a campus culture in which today's best and brightest students grapple with far more than academic challenges, "Binge" conveys the unprecedented stresses on campus today. While sharing revealing interviews and the often dramatic stories, Seaman explores the complexities of romantic relationships and sexual relations, alcohol and drug use, anxiety and depression, class and racial boundaries, and more. Despite the disturbing trends, Seaman finds reasons for optimism and offers provocative and well-informed suggestions for improving the undergraduate experience. Sometimes alarming, always fascinating, and ultimately hopeful, "Binge" is an extraordinary investigative work that reveals the realities of higher education today.