Coming of Age in Buffalo

"Graebner provides a carefully nuanced discussion of the music, clubs, fraternities, gangs, dress codes, slumber parties, and other teenage institutions that developed in this whirligig of influences."
-History of Education Quarterly

"Graebner dips into various youthful experiences: music and dress, cars and high school fraternities, church-sponsored 'teen lounges' and street corner loungers....Illustrating all this is a stunning collection of photographs of teen life....he reminds us once again that there is a lot to be learned about any society by imagining it through the experiences of those being initiated into it."
-The Journal of American History

"William Graebner provides compelling evidence that there was no unified or national 'youth culture' in the postwar period. Arguing that class, race, and ethnicity provided more significant meaning for teenagers in Buffalo, New York, Graebner has written an impressive book with prolific illustrations to prove his point.... Well-documented local studies like this one provide desperately needed information for grounding our understanding of teenagers in postwar America. This is required reading for anyone interested in youth, popular culture, schooling, or the postwar period. Graebner also contributes to debates about the hegemony of popular culture through his skepticism that ordinary people are able to subvert the dominant culture. Where others see resistance, he sees little room for successful challenges."
-Wini Breines