This history of growing up is based on more than 500 first-person accounts relating to growing up from the middle of the 18th through the early 20th centuries. Major focus is on the formation, experience, and transformation of the principal paths of growing up. It considers transitions or turning points, particularly as they surround entries and exits from distinct life course stages such as school, work, leaving home, migration, marriage, and so on. Chapter 1 discusses signposts along the paths of growing up that emphasize the importance of integration, inclusion, conflict, and historicity. Chapter 2 focuses on four major paths of growing up that stand out in life accounts from the 1740s to the early 1800s: traditional, transitional, female, and emergent. Chapter 3 on the 19th century looks at 4 principal paths of growing up that dominate: traditional, transitional, female, and emerging social class. Chapter 4 discusses 3 principal paths that predominate in configurations of growing up in the middle decades of the 19th and early years of the 20th centuries: transitional and class-determined paths for young men and the female path. Chapter 5 spans from the 1890s into the 1920s and explores a narrower range of paths--social class and female. Chapter 6 surveys the most recent past and present and considers the recent and contemporary continuities and connections as well as breaks from the past. Appendixes include chapter notes and an index. (YLB)