Old Age in the New Land : The American Experience since 1790 / / W. Andrew Achenbaum.

• Author: Achenbaum, W. Andrew.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xii, 237 pages) :; illustrations
• Notes: The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License; Open access edition supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.

Drawing on a wide range of sources from social, intellectual, and political history, W. Andrew Achenbaum analyzes the changing fates and fortunes of America's elderly in the course of its history. By providing a historical perspective on society's conceptions of aging—and its effects on human lives—Achenbaum's work offers valuable insights for historians, sociologists, gerontologists, and others interested in the "graying" of America.

Table of Contents

pt. I: Changing perceptions of the aged's roles in nineteenth-century America -- The usefulness of old age -- Variations on a theme -- The obsolescence of old age -- pt. II: The demographic and socioeconomic dimensions of old age -- The rhetoric and realities of growing old diverge in nineteenth-century America -- Old age becomes "modern" in twentieth-century America -- pt. III: Contemporary old age in historical perspective -- Old age becomes a national problem -- Social Security: A novel solution for the problem of America's aged -- Old age in the United States since Social Security.