• The Vanishing American Adult

  • Our Coming-of-Age Crisis - and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance
  • By: Ben Sasse
  • Narrated by: Ben Sasse
  • Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,800 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Vanishing American Adult  By  cover art

The Vanishing American Adult

By: Ben Sasse
Narrated by: Ben Sasse
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.24

Buy for $20.24

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

"Former college president and now U.S. Senator Ben Sasse reads with the clarity and confidence of a voice pro in this friendly warning aimed at America's parents, teachers, and governing officials." — AudioFile Magazine

AN INSTANT
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER — read by the author.

In an era of safe spaces, trigger warnings, and an unprecedented election, the country's youth are in crisis. Senator Ben Sasse warns the nation about the existential threat to America's future.

Raised by well-meaning but overprotective parents and coddled by well-meaning but misbegotten government programs, America's youth are ill-equipped to survive in our highly-competitive global economy.

Many of the coming-of-age rituals that have defined the American experience since the Founding: learning the value of working with your hands, leaving home to start a family, becoming economically self-reliant—are being delayed or skipped altogether. The statistics are daunting: 30% of college students drop out after the first year, and only 4 in 10 graduate. One in three 18-to-34 year-olds live with their parents.

From these disparate phenomena: Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse who as president of a Midwestern college observed the trials of this generation up close, sees an existential threat to the American way of life.

In The Vanishing American Adult, Sasse diagnoses the causes of a generation that can't grow up and offers a path for raising children to become active and engaged citizens. He identifies core formative experiences that all young people should pursue: hard work to appreciate the benefits of labor, travel to understand deprivation and want, the power of reading, the importance of nurturing your body—and explains how parents can encourage them.

Our democracy depends on responsible, contributing adults to function properly—without them America falls prey to populist demagogues. A call to arms, The Vanishing American Adult will ignite a much-needed debate about the link between the way we're raising our children and the future of our country.

©2017 Ben Sasse (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Former college president and now U.S. Senator Ben Sasse reads with the clarity and confidence of a voice pro in this friendly warning aimed at America's parents, teachers, and governing officials. Offering accessible examples and data to back his concerns, he says that too many of today's youth lack persistence and become "bizarrely fuzzy-headed when actual real-world problems need to be solved." Part of the problem is that they have few early experiences with hard work or overcoming obstacles. We don't expect enough of them. He also recommends that we let them travel and see the deprivation in other cultures and encourage them to nurture their bodies—to become better citizens by not taking their circumstances or health for granted. In a not-so-subtle jab, he says these experiences will also help our youth be less angry and, thus, less vulnerable to political demagogues." --AudioFile

"I know Ben Sasse as one of the most important emerging voices in our national dialogue—plain-spoken, brilliant, and unafraid to speak his mind. Whether we agree or disagree, when he speaks—I’m listening. And when he writes, I’m definitely reading." --Cory Booker

More from the same

Author

Narrator

What listeners say about The Vanishing American Adult

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,336
  • 4 Stars
    318
  • 3 Stars
    93
  • 2 Stars
    29
  • 1 Stars
    24
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,220
  • 4 Stars
    268
  • 3 Stars
    71
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    15
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,139
  • 4 Stars
    287
  • 3 Stars
    96
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    25

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A truly non-partisan essay on being an American

I am a Democrat. I have never crossed the party line to vote for a Republican. This book is so visionary and well written that I am seriously reconsidering my absolute unwillingness to do so. Ben Sasse is a historian statesman cut from the same cloth as Cicero. He presents here and argument for America as an idea rather than a legislative agenda, and it is really inspiring. I highly recommend this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really Important book about work, kids and school

From a Blue State Progressive Democrat...this is the work of a real conservative politician, but it is sound, brilliant and well informed. Ben Sasse is the kind of conservative liberals can listen to and agree with. He Obviously listens as well and knows his onions. He has a very good moral compass. If Congress were all as bright and decent and willing to take a deep and long view as does as Ben Sasse we would all join hands and agree. As it is this is a very important book by a master historian. All American parents should read this. Senator Sasse has his finger on the button of teenage education like no one else. A little bit too long is the only criticism I have of this excellent work.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I wanted to like it but I couldn't.

When I was in college I had the opportunity to sit in on a lecture from an anthropologist about the lack of "rights of passage" in many cultures today, especially the American culture. That was in 1998. So Mr. Sasse's revelation that this is a problem with millennials is a little late in the game. I agreed with the many differences between how I grew up, which was more than a decade before Mr. Sasse, and how kids today grow up but I'm proud to say that although my children did not work on a farm as he did and did not have a paper route at 5:00am on a cold winter morning, they are hard working and thoughtful individuals.

Too much emphasis in this book is placed on how great things used to be, how wrong they are now, with of course the exception of course with the Sasse family. Things are different, to be sure, and I fully agree with the current blur between childhood and adulthood. But more credit needs to be given to ways in which our young are much more savvy about the world than we ever were.

It may be the first book I ever return to audible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read non-political book by a politician!!

Ben Sasse is a 45 year old first term US senator from Nebraska. He is a Republican, but The Vanishing American Adult is not at all political. Sasse narrates this book himself and does a great job.

The premise of this book is that we as a society are in deep trouble in large part because we are not raising our children to become contributing adults; we are raising too many to be perpetual dependent teens. His message is that children need to be taught to be and required to be age appropriate self reliant. He gives many examples and then he makes suggestions for changes. I'm awarding the book the 5 stars it deserves but the book is not without flaws. The major flaw is that Senator Sasse comes across as "preachy" in parts of the book.

I strongly recommend The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis - and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Correct, but Awful

Better titles for this book:
1. How to be Ben Sasse
2. The Solution to America's Maturity Problem: Ben Sasse's Childhood
3. Replace Immaturity with Hypomanic Addiction to Self-Improvement

Sparsely sprinkled with interesting insights, but mostly nostalgic excerpts from a diary, punctuated by quoting lyrics from artists like Tom Petty and Alanis Morissette as a strategy to encourage maturity. Culminates in a bizarre, fictional closing speech from a deceased president. Strange not to have enjoyed a book with which I so thoroughly and emphatically agree.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must-read for every American

This was one of the best books I've read this year! Sasse clearly and eloquently articulates the form is citizenship historically crucial to the flourishing of the republic and he takes great steps forward in working to diagnose the challenges the currently face American society. As well, this book is a substantive contribution to the tradition of conservative political thought, and very enjoyable to read. Certainly a must-read for every American parent but still extremely valuable for any American more generally. I cannot speak too highly of this book! #Sasse2024?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Literate and Original

Since this will be stuck in many people's minds as a politician's book, and strictly it is, I should say that if it's in that genre it is the best one ever written because the rest are bilge. Better though to think of it as a well above average and sometimes excellent book in the society and parenting genre written by a literate and passionate person whom we hope to hear more from in the future. Very worth your time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

old school..a little biased..but good

narrator was the author who was good. makes observations but fails to address deeper causes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding and transformational

Enthusiastic and somewhat pensive memior about how to grow up. Parents need this book. The book is not political. We will not escape the crisis, but this book helps us understand the magnitude and nature of our national/international difficulties maturing into anything resembling responsible adults.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Want my spouse to read before having kids!

As a millennial frustrated with my own generation, this book came as a refreshing oasis of intellectual stimulation focused on solving the problems of my generation. I worry for my kids, and the kind of world that they will grow up in. Ben Sasse is very practical and giving helpful illustrations of what I can do in my children's life in order to encourage and nurture them towards being successful adults rather than big kids. A must read for anyone concerned or even not concerned about the coming of age crisis all around us.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful