In the 1990's, the majority of young adults were not married, did not own their house, and faced shifting low-wage careers as a result of forces beyond their control. The authors look at the economic, political, and social forces shaping the generation. They do not foresee "recovery" for under-30s.

For their conclusion, they compare America to the economy of England in the 1850s, described in Dicken's "Bleak House". Two types of young personalities were doomed to inherit: the indestructible economic type who foresakes childhood and "resemble old monkeys with something depressing on their minds". Solely concerned with making money. A human weed. The other character is one incapacitated by suspense, with everything postponed awaiting the outcome of a legally-convoluted legacy. A young "disfigured by deferred hopes." [172-173] These choices are very like the ones faced "in our time of change".