| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Paul Johnson and Pat Thane, editors. Old Age from Antiquity to Post-Modernity. New York: Routledge. 1998. Pp. ix, 244. $85.00.

In 1977, Peter N. Stearns noted that few scholars had published on the history of old age. While social history had addressed itself to childhood and the adult life of men and women, little research had been given to the last stage of life. Since that time, of course, numerous monographs and articles focused on the history of old age in both America and Europe. Coming nearly twenty-five years after Stearns's pronouncement, this collection of essays edited by Paul Johnson and Pat Thane adds significant voices to the study of old age and illuminates several debates that remain central in the field. Most clearly, as a group, these essays repeatedly argue against the long-standing myths that, despite the work of the last quarter of a century, continue to dominate scholarly ideas about old age. Convincingly, these essays demonstrate that old age has always existed. Even in ancient times, people did not assume that the forty-year-old was elderly; they marked the threshold to great age at sixty or seventy. Second, many of the writers argue that attitudes about old age have always been ambivalent. There never was a golden age for the elderly, during which they were treated with unquestioned respect. Literary portrayals of the old often rested on the conventions of the genre; physical depictions of the aged body served metaphoric purposes. Finally, several of these essays illustrate that assumptions about the increasing isolation of the old cannot be supported. Throughout time, the family has remained a key factor in the lives of the old, providing support and an exchange of resources. . . .

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