The Journey of Life : A Cultural History of Aging in America

Rating:
Summary: How we see death, the aged and aging changes historically
Review: If you're scared of what awaits you as you age in this country where the frail elderly are too often warehoused in short-staffed, soulless institutions and by and large exiled from the mainstream of our society no matter where or how they happen to live, you will probably find hope in this book, which shows by historical example that we change. The Journey of Life : A Cultural History of Aging in America is a well written vista of American social perceptions. Tom Cole writes as if he is fascinated by the panorama of his research into how Americans have seen the elderly and aging. He shows us the views we have moved through in strategic detail, not overwhelming us with statistics or boring us with long, dull paragraphs of psycho-social explanations, but carefully exposing the layers of American belief, fear, hope, and socio-economic reality from which have arisen our views of death, aging, and the aged from the early days through the present. From vile, malevolent curmudgeons on their way to the dark pit of annihilation to sweet, harmless fools shuffling through zippedy-doo-da landscapes toward automatic acceptance into a radiant heaven, to the present, where we simply seem to lose our faces in the rush of hyper-productivity and adoration of the sexy young, the American view of the aged and aging constantly changes, reflecting the dominant perceptions of our society.

Rating:
Summary: How we see death, the aged and aging changes historically
Review: If you're scared of what awaits you as you age in this country where the frail elderly are too often warehoused in short-staffed, soulless institutions and by and large exiled from the mainstream of our society no matter where or how they happen to live, you will probably find hope in this book, which shows by historical example that we change. The Journey of Life : A Cultural History of Aging in America is a well written vista of American social perceptions. Tom Cole writes as if he is fascinated by the panorama of his research into how Americans have seen the elderly and aging. He shows us the views we have moved through in strategic detail, not overwhelming us with statistics or boring us with long, dull paragraphs of psycho-social explanations, but carefully exposing the layers of American belief, fear, hope, and socio-economic reality from which have arisen our views of death, aging, and the aged from the early days through the present. From vile, malevolent curmudgeons on their way to the dark pit of annihilation to sweet, harmless fools shuffling through zippedy-doo-da landscapes toward automatic acceptance into a radiant heaven, to the present, where we simply seem to lose our faces in the rush of hyper-productivity and adoration of the sexy young, the American view of the aged and aging constantly changes, reflecting the dominant perceptions of our society.