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Older Americans, Vital Communities

A Bold Vision for Societal Aging

W. Andrew Achenbaum

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This thought-provoking work grapples with the vast range of issues associated with the aging population and challenges people of all ages to think more boldly and more creatively about the relationship between older Americans and their communities.

W. Andrew Achenbaum begins by exploring the demographics of our aging society and its effect on employment and markets, education, health care, religion, and political action. Drawing on history, literature, and philosophy, Achenbaum focuses on the way health care and increases in life expectancy have transformed late life from a phase characterized...

This thought-provoking work grapples with the vast range of issues associated with the aging population and challenges people of all ages to think more boldly and more creatively about the relationship between older Americans and their communities.

W. Andrew Achenbaum begins by exploring the demographics of our aging society and its effect on employment and markets, education, health care, religion, and political action. Drawing on history, literature, and philosophy, Achenbaum focuses on the way health care and increases in life expectancy have transformed late life from a phase characterized by illness, frailty, and debility to one of vitality, productivity, and spirituality. He shows how this transformation of aging is beginning to be felt in programs and policies for aging persons, as communities focus more effort on lifelong learning and extensive civic engagement.

Concerned that his own undergraduate students are too focused on the immediate future, Achenbaum encourages young people to consider their place in life's social and chronological trajectory. He calls on baby boomers to create institutional structures that promote productive, vital growth for the common good, and he invites people of all ages to think more boldly about what they will do with the long lives ahead of them.

Reviews

Reviews

Achenbaum brings a historian’s sensibility to his analysis... [His] treatment of religion, spirituality, and aging is one of the most informed and sophisticated that I have read.

A well-referenced and clearly, engagingly written account.

Achenbaum's book makes a useful contribution to knowledge. His long experience in the field of aging allows him to provide important policy insights.

A well-researched historical overview of trends in societal aging over the past century.

If the six main chapters alone were not enough to recommend this book, the 30-page reference list that wraps up the volume certainly would be. As textbook or professional reference, Older Americans, Vital Communities would be a worthy investment.

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About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
224
ISBN
9780801887680
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: A New Demographic Revolution Demands Novel Structural Responses
1. The New Faces of Individual Aging
2. The New Age of Production and Consumption
3. (Re)Creating Networks for

Acknowledgments
Introduction: A New Demographic Revolution Demands Novel Structural Responses
1. The New Faces of Individual Aging
2. The New Age of Production and Consumption
3. (Re)Creating Networks for Lifelong Learning and Sharing Talents
4. Reforming the U.S. Health System to Care for an Aging Population
5. Renewing Religious Experiences and Spiritual Practices for a New Age
6. Extending the Civic Engagement of Senior Citizens
Epilogue
References
Index

Author Bio