Golden Years - by James Chappel (Hardcover)

About the Book

"On farms and in factories, Americans once had little choice but to work until death. As the nation prospered, a new idea was born: the right to a dignified and secure old age. That project has benefited millions, but it remains incomplete--and today it's under siege. In Golden Years, historian James Chappel shows how old age first emerged as a distinct stage of life and how it evolved over the last century, shaped by politicians' choices, activists' demands, medical advancements, and cultural models from utopian novels to The Golden Girls"--

Book Synopsis

An "essential" (The New Republic) account of the history of old age in modern America, showing how we created unprecedented security for some and painful uncertainty for others

On farms and in factories, Americans once had little choice but to work until death. As the nation prospered, a new idea was born: the right to a dignified and secure old age. That project has benefited millions, but it remains incomplete--and today it's under siege.

In Golden Years, historian James Chappel shows how old age first emerged as a distinct stage of life and how it evolved over the last century, shaped by politicians' choices, activists' demands, medical advancements, and cultural models from utopian novels to The Golden Girls. Only after World War II did government subsidies and employer pensions allow people to retire en masse. Just one generation later, this model crumbled. Older people streamed back into the workforce, and free-market policymakers pushed the burdens of aging back onto older Americans and their families. We now confront an old age mired in contradictions: ever longer lifespans and spiraling health-care costs, 401(k)s and economic precarity, unprecedented opportunity and often disastrous instability.

As the population of older Americans grows, Golden Years urges us to look to the past to better understand old age today--and how it could be better tomorrow.

Review Quotes

"Golden Years is a highly perceptive account, the most substantial one we have, of how seniors rose to become a dominant force in the United States."--Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker

"A pellucid, unsparing account of the ends of life...Golden Years is most compelling when it walks right up to the line between scholarly distance and social justice and offers, if not solutions, then goals: much higher pay for home health aides; safe, regulated nonprofit nursing facilities; decent senior housing; better pensions all around."--American Scholar

"Compelling [and] informative...Chappel offers a thought-provoking glimpse of how America has tried to imagine the needs and value of an aging population in the past, and how it might best understand and deal with a graying populace."--BookPage

"Writing in clear, accessible prose, [Chappel] surveys a century's worth of evolving understandings and experiences of old age in America...What is revelatory is his account of Black activism on these issues and various efforts over the decades to push the system toward greater fairness."--Los Angeles Times

"Essential...Chappel expertly examines the changes that might allow a reimagining of old age in the shadow of 'the gray, hot century to come.'"--New Republic

"Aging in America is often depicted as a looming disaster, with terms like 'silver tsunami' and dire warnings from officials that we must work longer and harder to balance budgets. Golden Years challenges us to look at history and see that aging doesn't have to be this way. Aging is a collective and social experience, and our aging needs require social solutions: not-for-profit, safe, and regulated nursing homes; well-paid home health aides; and decent pensions and housing. These goals are within our nation's reach."--Teresa Ghilarducci, author of Work, Retire, Repeat

"Are you now, or will you someday be, retirement age? Then treat yourself to Golden Years. Learned and lively, it's a fascinating story filled with surprises about the varied ways Americans have experienced--and altered--the meaning of aging over the last century."--Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains

"As America ages, the numbers of us who need attentive care will only grow. Overstretched family members and severely undervalued care workers shoulder this immense responsibility with little to no public support. In Golden Years, James Chappel expertly uncovers the historical roots of this crisis of care while also offering a powerful vision for aging that is more secure and dignified for all."--Ai-jen Poo, president, National Domestic Workers Alliance

"Today, there are more Americans aged sixty and older than under age eighteen. What kind of future do they face? Chappel's balanced discussion of the advances we've made and the ones we failed to make is a must-read for any age."--Stephanie Coontz, author of The Way We Never Were

"Who deserves to retire, and under what conditions? What should this retirement require of others? Going beyond cliches about Social Security as the 'third rail of American politics, ' Florida, and nursing homes, Golden Years illuminates how the struggle to define old age has proven central to the meaning of citizenship and inclusion in America, touching every aspect of our common life."--Gabriel Winant, author of The Next Shift

About the Author

James Chappel is the Gilhuly Family Associate Professor of History at Duke University and a senior fellow at the Duke Aging Center. The author of Catholic Modern, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, and the New Republic. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.