"Butler questions the value of long life for its own sake; modern medicine, he says, has ironically created 'a huge group of people for whom survival is possible but satisfaction in living elusive.' He proposes sweeping policy reforms to redefine and restructure the institutions responsible for what he calls 'the tragedy of old age in America.'." -- New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
A sympathetic and informative guide to the problems of Old Age in America:
This book was written in 1975.In it Butler emphasizes the raw deal lots of elderly Americans were getting at the time. He speaks about Poverty and the inadequacy of Social Security, problems of work, of sickness, of social isolation in Old Age. He writes about discriminatory attitudes towards the elderly. He writes about misconceptions regarding infirmity and the great majority of the elderly. He addresses the way the elderly are stigmatized by the medical and psychiatric professions.
He is... more info
Foundational to the field of Gerontology:
Although this book was written in 1975 and some material in the second half of the book is a bit dated, this book is foundational to understanding the complexities of aging in the United States. Dr. Butler does an excellent job of presenting the history of aging policies and their impact on our aging population. This book should be required reading for any serious student of gerontology and those who work with aging persons and aging policy. Dr. Butler may be a physician, but this book does not read... more info
Good reading, though slightly out of date now:
I read this book because I have never read anything in this field. This book was published in the 1970s when conditions for elderly people were bad. High inflation was reducing the value of the nest eggs of many. Large lay-offs also meant that many older people could not depend on their children for financial support. As such, this book was important in that it addressed all issues, major and minor, that elderly people have to deal with in this country. These issues still exist, but I dare say the elderly... more info
