Everybody has a teen bedroom story. The teen bedroom has universally been regarded as a safe haven for adolescents from all classes and backgrounds, and a near-sacred space that s basically off-limits to everyone but its teenage occupants (and their invited guests). But it s a relatively recent Western phenomenon that assumed a prominent role in socializing teens and shaping their identities during the years following World War II. As part of the identity-shaping process, the teen bedroom became a safe space for teens to express their growing consumer power, parallel to the emergence of youth subcultures after the War. Reid tracks the history of bedrooms for children back to the Civil War period, though the bulk of his research stretches from the late 1950s through the beginning of the 21st century. The rock posters, stuffed animals, and record players that found their way into teen bedroom during this period represent ways in which tends became major contributors to the postwar consumer economy. Reid by no means neglects popular culture, in the meantime, detailing the ways in which the teen bedroom appeared in song, film, television, and literature. It was often portrayed as a space of personal development and self-expression, but also as a site profound loneliness and romantic longing. To quote the Beach Boys 1963 hit song In My Room, the postwar teen bedroom featured just as much sighing and crying as it did scheming and dreaming. "

Teenage life is tough. You're at the mercy of parents, teachers, and siblings, all of whom insist on continuing to treat you like a kid and refuse to leave you alone. So what do you do when it all gets to be too much? You retreat to your room (and maybe slam the door). Even in our era of Snapchat and hoverboards, bedrooms remain a key part of teenage life, one of the only areas where a teen can exert control and find some privacy. And while these separate bedrooms only became commonplace after World War II, the idea of the teen bedroom has been around for a long time. With Get Out of My Room!, Jason Reid digs into the deep historical roots of the teen bedroom and its surprising cultural power. He starts in the first half of the nineteenth century, when urban-dwelling middle-class families began to consider offering teens their own spaces in the home, and he traces that concept through subsequent decades, as social, economic, cultural, and demographic changes caused it to become more widespread. Along the way, Reid shows us how the teen bedroom, with its stuffed animals, movie posters, AM radios, and other trappings of youthful identity, reflected the growing involvement of young people in American popular culture, and also how teens and parents, in the shadow of ongoing social changes, continually negotiated the boundaries of this intensely personal space. Richly detailed and full of surprising stories and insights, Get Out of My Room! is sure to offer insight and entertainment to anyone with wistful memories of their teenage years. (But little brothers should definitely keep out.)