“Maybe what depresses human beings is not the great roar and thrust of history, but the very opposite: its absence.” A generation without a cause: “This week, I’ve come across at least three references in the news to increased levels of depression and anxiety in young

adults. To wit: It is being reported the level of depression and other psychiatric disorders has risen in every group of 18- to

24-year-old Americans — one generation to the next — since the Second World War.

I expect you’ll be hearing more about this as two new books make the rounds. Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life

in Your Twenties by New York journalists Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, describes the aimlessness and anxiety of this

generation of college graduates. The Myth of Maturity, an excellent book by Cambridge sociologist Terri Apter, approaches the

same subject from a more scholarly vantage point, arguing on the basis of careful study that young adults are remaining caught

in a twilight of adolescence, unable to transform their relationships into marriages and their jobs into careers.” The National Post