Why are 20-somethings delaying adulthood? The media have flooded us with negative headlines about this generation, from their sense of entitlement to their immaturity. Drawing on almost a decade of cutting-edge research and nearly five hundred interviews with young people, Richard Settersten, Ph.D., and Barbara E. Ray shatter these stereotypes, revealing an unexpected truth: A slower path to adulthood is good for all of us.

Recently the lives of people from age 18 to 29 have changed so dramatically that a new stage of life has developed, emerging adulthood, that is distinct from both the adolescence that precedes it and the young adulthood that comes in its wake. Rather than marrying and becoming parents in their early twenties, most people in industrialized societies now postpone these transitions until at least their late twenties, and instead spend the time in self-focused exploration as they try out different possibilities in their careers and relationships.

Patel (founder and executive director, Interfaith Youth Core, "a Chicago-based international nonprofit building the interfaith youth movement") is an Indian Muslim who grew up outside of Chicago. In this memoir, he explores the evolution of his own religious and cultural identity as he gradually came to reject anger at being excluded from mainstream American society in order to promote interfaith awareness with a focus on younger generations.