Old Age in English History: Past Experiences, Present Issues

At the end of the twentieth century more people are living into their seventies, eighties, nineties, and beyond, a process expected to continue well into the next millennium, This life spancould only have been dreamed of in earlier centuries; now many can expect to survive to old age in reasonably good health and remain active and independent to the end, in contrast to the high death rate, ill health, and destitution which affected all generations in the past.Yes this change is generally greeted not with triumph but with alarm. It is assumed that the longer people live, the longer they are ill and dependent, thus burdening a shrinking younger generation with the cost of pensions and health care. It is also widely believed that 'the past' saw few survivors into old age and thse could be supported by their families without involoving the tax payer.In this first survey of old age throughout English history, these assumptions are challenged. Vivid pictures are givenof the ways in which very large numbers of older people lived oftern vigorous and independent lives over many centuries. The book argues that old people have always been highly visible in English communities, and concludes that as people live longer, due to the benefits of the rise in living standards, far from being burdens they can be valuable contributors to their families and to society.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Old Age in Pre-Modern England 1: Did People in the Past Grow Old? Representations 2: Representations of Old Age in Ancient Greece and Rome 3: Medieval Images of Old Age 4: Old Age in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Experiences 5: Independent Old People: Making a Living in Medieval England 6: The Aged Landless Poor: Work and Welfare in Medieval and Early Modern England 7: Old People and their Families 8: Lives of Expedients: Old People and the Old Poor Law Inventing the Old-Age Pensioner 9: The New Poor Law and the Aged Poor 10: The Campaign for Old-Age Pensions 11: The First Piece of Socialism Britain has Entered upon? - The Introduction of Old-Age Pensions 12: Pensions for the Middle Classes: The Growth of Occupational Pensions Living Longer in a Changing World: the 1830s to 1930s 13: An Unfailing Zest for Life: Images and Self-Images of Older People in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 14: Work and Retirement: the 1830s to 1930s 15: Kinship does not Stop at the Front Door: Old People and their Families, the 1830s to 1930s 16: Pensions and Pensioners in War and Depression 17: The Menace of an Ageing Population, the 1920s to 1950s 'I Dont Feel Old': The Reinvention of Old Age in the Welfare State 18: A Remarkable Discovery of Secret Need: Pensioners in the 1940s 19: Pensions from Beveridge to the Millennium 20: Shocked into Idleness: The Emergence of Mass Retirement 21: The Family Lives of Old People 22: Inventing Geriatric Medicine 23: You're as old as you Feel: Images and Self-Images of Older People at the End of the Millennium Conclusion 24: Into the Twenty-First Century: An Ageing Society - Burden or Benefit? Bibliography Index Introduction Old Age in Pre-Modern England 1: Did People in the Past Grow Old? Representations 2: Representations of Old Age in Ancient Greece and Rome 3: Medieval Images of Old Age 4: Old Age in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Experiences 5: Independent Old People: Making a Living in Medieval England 6: The Aged Landless Poor: Work and Welfare in Medieval and Early Modern England 7: Old People and their Families 8: Lives of Expedients: Old People and the Old Poor Law Inventing the Old-Age Pensioner 9: The New Poor Law and the Aged Poor 10: The Campaign for Old-Age Pensions 11: The First Piece of Socialism Britain has Entered upon? - The Introduction of Old-Age Pensions 12: Pensions for the Middle Classes: The Growth of Occupational Pensions Living Longer in a Changing World: the 1830s to 1930s 13: An Unfailing Zest for Life: Images and Self-Images of Older People in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 14: Work and Retirement: the 1830s to 1930s 15: Kinship does not Stop at the Front Door: Old People and their Families, the 1830s to 1930s 16: Pensions and Pensioners in War and Depression 17: The Menace of an Ageing Population, the 1920s to 1950s 'I Dont Feel Old': The Reinvention of Old Age in the Welfare State 18: A Remarkable Discovery of Secret Need: Pensioners in the 1940s 19: Pensions from Beveridge to the Millennium 20: Shocked into Idleness: The Emergence of Mass Retirement 21: The Family Lives of Old People 22: Inventing Geriatric Medicine 23: You're as old as you Feel: Images and Self-Images of Older People at the End of the Millennium Conclusion 24: Into the Twenty-First Century: An Ageing Society - Burden or Benefit? Bibliography Index

Review :
`Review from previous edition Thane's historical approach effectively demolishes myths of a lost golden age for the old, and is an excellent corrective to the kind of social science that refers back to an imagined "traditional society".' The Independent `Chronicles the old from Roman times to the modern day and is full of vivid quotations...The style of writing was so good I read it on one glorious Saturday afternoon in the garden... Anyone interested in retirement planning, the elderly and demogrphics should read this book.' Pensions World `A challenge to all the usual tired, blasted, ragged, shrivelled, chicken-skinned, catnapping, Tiresias-dugged, slack-throated, liver-spotted, incontinent and Celtic Twighlight twaddling assumptions about ageing and old age.' The Guardian `She [Thane] shows time and time again the dangers of comparing what she describes as an idealised past with a half understood present.' Social History Today