Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture (Paperback)

by Michael Moffatt (Author) "In 1977, on a whim, I decided to try passing as an overage, out-of-state freshman for the first few days of the fall semester at..." (more)
Key Phrases: wedgie patrol, experimentalist women, new sexual orthodoxy, Hasbrouck Fourth, Erewhon Third, Secret Santa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"With Kinseyesque diligence [Moffatt] catalogues the sexual habits and fantasies of his students. . . . His book vibrates with quirky authenticity." --New York Times Book Review "Useful for understanding the student experience . . . throughout the United States. . . . Beautifully written, carefully researched . . . a classic."--John Thelin, Educational Studies "Michael Moffatt is a multitalented, multidisciplinary scholar . . . who writes without a trace of gobbledygook. He deserves a wide following." --Rupert Wilkinson, Journal of American Studies "One of the most thoughtfully crafted case studies of undergraduate culture . . . ever written . . . a book every professor should read." --Paul J. Baker, Academe Coming of Age is about college as students really know it and--often--love it. To write this remarkable account, Michael Moffatt did what anthropologists usually do in more distant cultures: he lived among the natives. His findings are sometimes disturbing, potentially controversial, but somehow very believable. Coming of Age is a vivid slice of life of what Moffatt saw and heard in the dorms of a typical state university, Rutgers, in the 1980s. It is full of student voices: naive and worldy-wise, vulgar and polite, cynical, humorous, and sometimes even idealistic. But it is also about American culture more generally: individualism, friendship, community, bureaucracy, diversity, race, sex, gender, intellect, work, and play. As an example of an ethnography written about an anthropologist's own culture, this book is an uncommon one. As a new and revealing perspective on the much-studied American college student, it is unique.

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; Later Printing edition (March 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813513596
• ISBN-13: 978-0813513591
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #727,658 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put it down!, November 18, 1998

By A Customer

One of the few college texts I actually READ. Required for a freshman anthropology class (this is almost 8 years ago now), I was thrilled by every word in this book... Easy to read, interesting, entertaining... I mistakenly loaned it to someone who never gave it back and have regretted it ever since. A must read for anyone interested in a look at college culture through the eyes of someone doing it again, 20 years after graduation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Anthropological Study of University Students, August 28, 2002

By	Alan Miller (Schaumburg, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author is a faculty member in the Anthropology department at Rutgers University who decided to do a study of the students in traditional immersion fashion. To do this, he joined the incoming freshman class as an older student returning to school and lived in the dorm. The resulting book is a fascinating read, particularly for someone who was actually entering college around the same time as Moffatt's study. Moffatt covers the group dynamics, the forming and shifting of groups, and many of the aspects of college life.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Book, November 10, 2004

By	Kirilov - See all my reviews

Most books on "college kids" are nothing but anti-youth statistical messes. Moffat's generous phenomenological approach to the subject and refusal to make any broad generalizations make this book a truly amazing document. His analysis of "friendliness" as the dominant trope in American society, demonstrated in the micro-society of the dorm, is superb, as are his eye-opening conclusions about the trends that govern undergraduate sexuality.