SOMETIMES CALLED GENERATION XERS,

baby busters, thirteeners or twentysomethings, those born between 1961 and 1981 have inherited a bleak world. Many Xers come from broken families. It is a generation that has never known political, religious or economic leadership unmarred by scandal. It has grown up in an atmosphere of ever more brutal and widespread violence.

In fact, college chaplain William Mahedy has been disturbed by The reallestion that working with sludents resembles his earlier work with veterans raumatized by the Vietnam War.

But unlike much said about Xers, A Generation Alone is hopeful. Mahedy and Xer coauthor Janet Bernardi show that this is a generation in search of meaning and community-and open to a radical Christianity that accepts pain as part of the life of faith.