Why Survive? Being Old in America

Abstract

The long careers of Picasso, Pope John XXIII, Humboldt, Duke Ellington, Prime Minister Meir, and Ben Franklin, among many others, provide the evidence that old age can be graceful and very productive. The skilled author and gerontologist, Robert Butler, demonstrates that most elderly people are healthier and more creative than either they or their families realize. Disease, decay, boredom, depression, poverty, and despair may be a necessary part of early aging for some but can be eluded by many others for several more valuable decades and especially by those who will ponder and apply the advice in this book. Housing, living expenses, and economic dignity for the elderly are problems about which the author is most angry. Some very personal notes and half the book are concerned with ordinary sustenance and money. The issues are well argued and well supported by general statistical analyses and anecdotes. The author logically develops