This book is a call to action to parents, youth workers, policymakers--anyone who works for and worries about the next generation--to recognize and promote the values of caring in public and private life. It is about teenagers--those who no longer need the care given to babies and children but who still need support and guidance. Diana Mendley Rauner offers a rare focus on youth development as a process of experiencing care and learning social responsibility.

Much public discussion of youth focuses on individual achievement and a limited set of markers of success, on the one hand, and...