Over the course of her career, photojournalist Robin Bowman has worked for People magazine, traveled to dozens of countries and negotiated countless difficult situations, including the conflicts in Darfur and Bosnia.

Recently, Bowman spent four years driving across the United States, covering more than 20,000 miles, and photographing and interviewing more than 400 American teens. Some of those pictures — and the teens' words — are included in her new book, It's Complicated: The American Teenager.

The project was, at times, very different from Bowman's previous work as a photojournalist. For one thing, although she always obtained a signed release form from her subjects' parents, she resisted extensive prep work before shooting the teens.

Read or better yet listen to it all. If you do listen to it, take special note of the question and answer interaction with the teen in West Virginia.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Teens / Youth

1. Don R wrote: This story reminds me of your earlier post on the sad story of Shannon Matthews.  The church is uniquely positioned (one might even say, exists) to provide for the spiritually impoverished, yet we seem much more comfortable with and intent on providing for material needs.  Feed my sheep: literal, figurative, or both? March 27, 1:19 pm | [comment link]

2. Larry Morse wrote: I asked Kendall to post the essay in Newsweek from last week which was about the young who need public exposure to feel as if they are real. He didn’t print it, I don’t know why, but it is important reading. The FAcebook syndrome is the nex t step beyond the narcissism and exhibitionism of the the Baby Boomers and their children. WE are increasingly dealing with a cohort whose real world is a virtual one and a strange and bizarre metaphysic.  Larry March 28, 8:01 am | [comment link]

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