Why Survive?: Being Old in America

by Robert N. Butler

Book Overview

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

Crammed with facts that explode old myths. -Boston Globe

Heavily...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801874254
• ISBN13: 9780801874253
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

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 essentially an advocate, a very informed and sympathetic one for the elderly. The book opens with his relating the story of how he was raised by his grandparents and how their devotion kept him going as a young child. It is thirty years since the book was written, and my guess is that there has been considerable improvement in certain areas of the lives of the elderly. I would guess that Poverty is not as prevalent as it was thirty years ago. I also believe that there has been an improvement in institutional care for the healthy. 'Ageism' which is a term Butler coined is of course still a reality, but there are also organizations and groups which defend the interests of the elderly. Butler speaks wisely about maintaining health and interest in life in old age. His concluding remarks have to do with making our lives 'works of art'. This is a fine book written by a very decent and skillful student of the problems of Aging in America.

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 like a medical text book. It is full of useful statistics and details regarding social policy, psychology, sociology and even spirituality. Because of the depth and breadth of how Dr. Butler presents the issues that impact persons who are aging and their families and our society at large, this book is a goldmine of information. After reading this book, I came away with the thought "the more things change, the more things stay the same." Dr. Butler makes suggestions on how to improve life and living for our elders, some of these ideas still need to be implimented. I think it is one of the best books I've read in the field of gerontology from the standpoint of providing a foundational background in the field and historical content.