The Making of the Teenager
The teenager we know today came of age in the postwar era — but she owes her existence to the New Deal.
Illustration by David Milan.
In December 11, 1944, Nina Leen invented the teenage girl. While whispers of her had been circulating for more than a decade — in advertisements for three-cent “beauty care” books and $3 budget shoes — it was not until Leen’s Life magazine photo essay “Teen-Age Girls: They Live in a Wonderful World of Their Own” that this new creature […]
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