The hookup is now part of college life. Yet the drunken encounter we always hear about tells only a fraction of the story. In this "engaging, illuminating study" (Gayle Brandels, San Francisco Chronicle ), Lisa Wade offers the definitive account of this new sexual culture and demonstrates that the truth is both more heartening and disturbing than we thought. Offering invaluable insights for parents, educators, and students, Wade situates hookup culture within the history of sexuality, the evolution of higher education, and the unfinished feminist revolution. Using new research, she maps out a challenging emotional landscape marked by unequal pleasures, competition for status, and sexual violence. Accessible and open-minded, compassionate and honest, American Hookup explains where we are and how we got here, asking not "How do we go back?" but "Where do we go from here?".