I read ELMTOWN'S YOUTH (not including ELMTOWN REVISITED) 30 years ago in grad school and it was already dated after 20+ years. This book is a sociological analysis of a small Midwestern town which is located within 100 miles of my home. The combination of ethnographic observation and description comparable to any research done by Margaret Mead or Colin Turnbull and the distant familiarity of early postwar society in America made for a fascinating book. Although a sociologist from the famed University of Chicago faculty, this author has written one of the finest ethographic analyses ever done of "modern" American society. Substitute Elmtown with Trobriand Islands, New Guinea, Amazon rainforest or any other exotic locale and they are no more fascinating than this mid-century American town with its own traditions, rituals, and vernacular.