Children of a Troubled Time: Growing Up with Racism in Trump's America

by Margaret A. Hagerman

Honorable Mention, 2026 Outstanding Scholarly Book Award, given by the American Sociological Association, Section on Children and Youth

Provides a child’s-eye perspective on how the culture wars are playing out in our nation’s schools

Kids are at the center of today’s “culture wars”―pundits, politicians, and parents alike are debating which books they should be allowed to read, which version of history they should learn in school, and what decisions they can make about their own bodies. And yet, no one asks kids what they think about these issues.

In Children of a Troubled Time, award-winning sociologist Margaret A. Hagerman amplifies the voices of children who grew up during Trump’s presidency and explores how they learn about race in America today. Hagerman interviewed nearly fifty children between the ages of ten to thirteen in two dramatically different political Mississippi and Massachusetts. Hagerman interviewed kids who identified as conservative and liberal in both places as well as kids from different racial groups. She discovered remarkably similar patterns in the ideas expressed by these children. Racism, she asserts, is not just a local or regional it is a broad American project affecting childhoods across the country.

In Hagerman’s emotionally compelling interviews, children describe what it is like to come of age during years of deep political and racial divide, and how being a kid during the Trump era shaped their views on racism, democracy, and America as a whole. Children’s racialized emotions are also central to this disgust and discomfort, fear and solidarity, dominance and apathy.

As administrators, teachers, and parents struggle to help children make sense of our racially and politically polarized nation, Hagerman offers concrete examples of the kinds of interventions necessary to help kids learn how to become members of a multi-racial democracy and to avoid the development of far-right thinking in the white youth of today. Children of a Troubled Time expands our understanding of how the rising generation grapples with the complexities of racism and raises critical questions about the future of American society.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2024

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible academic text where the author has interviewed many 10-12 year old children from various backgrounds living in America. A sobering book, reflecting a broad spectrum of experience, some white children were racist, other white children were vehemently opposed to racism. I was struck by how frightened many of the children of colour were, how many had experienced heightened incidents of racism following the election of president Trump. This being an academic text and therefore the children's views being presented without comment, actually adds to the intensity of reading about what they have lived through.
I also found it impressive how politically involved all of the children were, I feel like there is very much a cultural narrative that we must protect children, especially from politics. What is clear from this book is that children are aware, either from their lived experience or from media (usually social), and therefore we really do need to be talking to them and helping them understand and process what they are living with and through.
The conclusion is helpful, full of carefully considered thoughts and suggestions of how we can understand these children's perspectives and also how we can help them. An important and interesting book.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Margaret Hagerman's earlier book White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America, and this is like a follow-up after the first election of Trump (but before COVID or the Biden presidency). She and her team talked to kids ages 10-13 in two different towns, one in Massachusetts and one in Mississippi. (She doesn't name them, but I'm guessing the Massachusetts one was on or near the south coast, close to Rhode Island.) They largely absorb the attitudes of their parents, and some of the things the pro-Trump kids say are genuinely disturbing. They've all decided that Trump's racism doesn't really matter, even if they do think he's racist. On the other hand, there are white anti-Trump kids even in very conservative Mississippi environments. Second book in a row I've read that discusses how useful social-emotional learning in schools can be.

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75
So I would have been 13 in 2016, meaning I was about the same age as all the people being interviewed in this book, which was a bit of a trippy headspace. Like these are children but they are also saying things I remember my peers thinking when I was younger.
There are parts of this book where the conclusions feel obvious, children exist in society and notice and are impacted by things adults talk about around them. I think in the context of this being a research project that's not a bad thing though, like I am glad there is an academic citable place people can point to for those obvious things.
I really enjoy the style of this, I think I tend to enjoy the "research paper in a fancy coat" style of nonfiction, the way it is so clear about all of the information is nice.
So yea, good, good book