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

Many of the definitive coming-of-age rituals: learning the value of working, leaving home, 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.

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse 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.