"This volume invites readers to re-imagine the losses of aging by listening to the views of elders themselves. Researchers, students of aging, and policy makers should find this work most enlightening." - Athena McLean, Central Michigan University

Disease and death are a part of life, but so too is being well. The lively voices found in this book are not shy about stating the ways in which the widely held notion that they are in decline has been a far larger problem than many other features of their lives. For students, scholars, and policy makers, the message is to attend to these voices, and to design and build better programs that address the social determinants of healthy aging and social inclusion throughout the life course.

"Make no mistake; aging in America is warfare. Families suffer, lives are lost prematurely, and incomes are under siege." – Sharon Sebastian, Author As a guerilla journalist, Sharon Sebastian has written a revealing and explosive book that is blunt, unwavering and authentic with shocking insight and information about aging in America that every reader must know. The book, "AGING: WARNING – Navigating Life's Medical, Mental & Financial Minefields, is an unrelenting, take-no-prisoners exposé about the malfeasance of both government and the elder care megalopoly. When it comes to families, our aging population and our veterans, no one should attempt to maneuver through the minefields of the medical and elder care industries without being armed with this book. Sebastian warns, "Families need to know what they don't know." While alerting readers to the pitfalls of aging that are being imposed by a profit-driven care industry and lax State and Federal governments, the author builds the case and the argument that once again in America's history, in regard to how we treat our own, it is time for a radical change; it is time for America to reclaim its soul. Sebastian knows that the strongest credential for conveying truth is being on the front lines. That is why, as a guerrilla journalist, she embedded herself in the elder care system from hospitals to nursing homes uncovering a system that is deeply flawed and a liability to the future of the American family. Sharon Sebastian has witnessed it, researched it, and is now sharing it as she openly warns about the perils of aging in her fight for the rights and protections of all Americans. Sebastian gives critical insider knowledge that may help families remain both sane and solvent. It is in response to the appeals of those voices, the voices of the patients and their families that insist that "the truth must be told," that Sebastian wrote the book, AGING: WARNING – Navigating Life's Medical, Mental & Financial Minefields. There is no substitute for personal experience coupled with first-hand investigations as source material to give vital insight to families who "need to know." The author shares personal experiences and opinions along with those of experts in a variety of fields from research science, law, medicine, care providers, veterans' care, food activists, Whistleblowers and government officials which provoke thought and discussion. Sebastian's multi-year research reveals a system that both saves lives and takes lives as the great and not-so-great practice medicine and elder care.

Yale professor and leading expert on the psychology of successful aging, Dr. Becca Levy, draws on her ground-breaking research to show how age beliefs can be improved so they benefit all aspects of the aging process, including the way genes operate and the extension of life expectancy by 7.5 years. The often-surprising results of Levy’s science offer stunning revelations about the mind-body connection. She demonstrates that many health problems formerly considered to be entirely due to the aging process, such as memory loss, hearing decline, and cardiovascular events, are instead influenced by the negative age beliefs that dominate in the US and other ageist countries. It’s time for all of us to rethink aging and Breaking the Age Code shows us how to do just that. Based on her innovative research, stories that range from pop culture to the corporate boardroom, and her own life, Levy shows how age beliefs shape all aspects of our lives. She also presents a variety of fascinating people who have benefited from positive age beliefs as well as an entire town that has flourished with these beliefs. Breaking the Age Code is a landmark work, presenting not only easy-to-follow techniques for improving age beliefs so they can contribute to successful aging, but also a blueprint to reduce structural ageism for lasting change and an age-just society.

Coping with Aging is the final project of the late Richard S. Lazarus, the man whose landmark book Emotion and Adaptation put the study of emotion in play in the field of psychology. In this volume, Lazarus examines the experience of aging from the standpoint of the individual, rather than as merely a collection of statistics and charts. This technique is in line with his long-standing belief that experiences should be looked at in their specific contexts, rather than squeezed into an overly general statistical viewpoint that loses the subjects' motivations. Drawing on his five decades of pioneering research, Lazarus looks at aging, emotion, and coping, and stability and change in both environment and personality. Because Lazarus mixes academic rigor with everyday examples, this volume will be both useful to scholars and accessible to the lay audience that has so much gain from a systematic understanding of aging and emotion.

Winner of the 2021 Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity Award from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Finalist for the 2021 American Book Fest Best Book Awards Aging is one of the most compelling issues today, with record numbers of seniors over sixty-five worldwide. Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life examines a diverse array of cultural works including films, literature, and even art that represent this time of life, often made by people who are seniors themselves. These works, focusing on important topics such as housing, memory loss, and intimacy, are analyzed in dialogue with recent research to explore how “stories” illuminate the dynamics of growing old by blending fact with imagination. Gray Matters also incorporates the life experiences of seniors gathered from over two hundred in-depth surveys with a range of questions on growing old, not often included in other age studies works. Combining cultural texts, gerontology research, and observations from older adults will give all readers a fuller picture of the struggles and pleasures of aging and avoids over-simplified representations of the process as all negative or positive.

Getting older goes hand in hand with losses of many kinds—ending careers, empty nests, illness, the deaths of loved ones—and this book by one of the world's most beloved grief experts helps one acknowledge and mourn the many losses of aging while also offering advice for living better in old age. The 100 practical tips and activities address the emotional, spiritual, cognitive, social, and physical needs of seniors who want to age authentically and gracefully, and each idea also includes a seize-the-day action to live fully and with joy in the present moment. For those who’ve just entered their 50s or are well on their way to the century mark, this book promises elder-friendly tips for comfort, laughter, and inspiration.

Although philosophy, religion, and civic cultures used to help people prepare for aging and dying well, this is no longer the case. Today, aging is frequently seen as a problem to be solved and death as a harsh reality to be masked. In part, our cultural confusion is rooted in an inadequate conception of the human person, which is based on a notion of absolute individual autonomy that cannot but fail in the face of the dependency that comes with aging and decline at the end of life. To help correct the ethical impoverishment at the root of our contemporary social confusion, The Evening of Life provides an interdisciplinary examination of the challenges of aging and dying well. It calls for a re-envisioning of cultural concepts, practices, and virtues that embraces decline, dependency, and finitude rather than stigmatizes them. Bringing together the work of sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, theologians, and medical practitioners, this collection of essays develops an interrelated set of conceptual tools to discuss the current challenges posed to aging and dying well, such as flourishing, temporality, narrative, and friendship. Above all, it proposes a positive understanding of thriving in old age that is rooted in our shared vulnerability as human beings. It also suggests how some of these tools and concepts can be deployed to create a medical system that better responds to our contemporary needs. The Evening of Life will interest bioethicists, medical practitioners, clinicians, and others involved in the care of the aging and dying. Contributors: Joseph E. Davis, Sharon R. Kaufman, Paul Scherz, Wilfred M. McClay, Kevin Aho, Charles Guignon, Bryan S. Turner, Janelle S. Taylor, Sarah L. Szanton, Janiece Taylor, and Justin Mutter

And Not One Bird Stopped Singing guides us through grieving all the events that take meaning from our lives so we can learn to live again. Doris Moreland Jones draws from her clinical pastoral background and own personal experience with grief.

Life After Midlife is your guide to healthy and graceful aging—a blueprint for a happy lifestyle as you embark on a new chapter. Beyond what we consider the “prime of our lives” lies a fascinating, sometimes unnerving world of ups and downs, surprises, challenges, and uncertainties. But don’t be dismayed… This time in our lives can be extremely rewarding, depending on our outlook. Life After Midlife: A Practical Guide to Successful Aging is an easy-to-read handbook that can motivate and inspire us to prepare for the next phase of our lives, and by managing our mindsets and our attitudes, we can grow old gracefully, healthily and happily!