W. Andrew Achenbaum

Older Americans, Vital Communities (eBook, ePUB)

A Bold Vision for Societal Aging

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

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.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780801896026
• Artikelnr.: 60987639

Autorenporträt

W. Andrew (Andy) Achenbaum, Ph.D., is a semi-retired professor of history in the Houston, Texas Medical Center's Consortium on Aging. He is married to Barbara Lewis and is the proud father of two daughters and two grandchildren.Achenbaum earned his B.A. in American Studies at Amherst College, an M.A. at the University of Pennsylvania, and his Ph.D. in history at the University of Michigan. After learning more about the art of teaching at Canisius College and revising the core curriculum at Carnegie Mellon University, Andy served as professor of history and deputy director of the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Michigan and then became the founding dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Houston.For half a century Achenbaum has been critically thinking, lecturing and writing about the meanings and experiences of old age in U.S. history. To interpret intriguing late-life continuities and to fight ageism, Andy has elaborated older Americans' roles in reconfiguring an aging nation's political economy, social and transgenerational policies, and (in)visibility in cultural affairs. Turning 75 in good health this year, he finds it a challenge to balance personal and professional opinions about fairy-tale wisdom and soulful aging in a deeply polarized country.Achenbaum has published six books, co-edited 12 others, and written more than 200 peer-reviewed articles. Routledge will publish his forthcoming book Safeguarding Social Security for Future Generations. A recipient of several awards for his work in gerontology, he chaired the National Council of Aging, and served on national, state, and local advisory boards. To learn more and contact Andy, visit www.FairyTaleWisdom.com