Originally published in 1978. Drawing on a wide range of sources from social, intellectual, and political history, Old Age in the New Land analyzes the changing fates and fortunes of America's elderly in the course of its history. By providing a historical perspective on society's conceptions of aging—and its effects on human lives—Achenbaum's work offers valuable insights for historians, sociologists, gerontologists, and others interested in the "graying" of America.

In What Does It Mean to Grow Old? essayists come to grips as best they can with the phenomenon of an America that is about to become the Old Country. They have been drawn from every relevant discipline--gerontology, social medicine, politics, health, anthropology, ethics, law--and asked to speak their mind. Most of them write extremely well [and their] sharply individual voices are heard.

The essays in this volume were originally presented at a workshop held at the University of Calgary on August 1–5, 1977 and sponsored by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities. The phrase “the new land” underwent careful scrutiny and reassessment during the course of the conference, and the insights that resulted from the readings and discussions were of considerable value to participants and observers alike. Chronologically and thematically the essays cover a wide range: from La Nouvelle France as seen by the early missionaries and by the French Romantic writer Chateaubriand to variations on the new land theme in present-day Qußbec; from the Prairies as seen by an early homesteader-novelist from France, Constantin-Weyer, to the Manitoba of Gabrielle Roy, which in turn is contrasted to the Nebraska of Willa Cather; from a historical recreation of the Saskatchewan landscape and history by a gifted contemporary novelist Rudy Wiebe, to a paradisal celebration of British Columbia reflected in the later works of Malcolm Lowry. What emerged from all of this, among other things, was the articulation of a mythology about the new land that was far more complex and expansive than the one derived originally through an old–world perspective.

Like many Native Americans, Ojibwe people esteem the wisdom, authority, and religious significance of old age, but this respect does not come easily or naturally. It is the fruit of hard work, rooted in narrative traditions, moral vision, and ritualized practices of decorum that are comparable in sophistication to those of Confucianism. Even as the dispossession and policies of assimilation have threatened Ojibwe peoplehood and have targeted the traditions and the elders who embody it, Ojibwe and other Anishinaabe communities have been resolute and resourceful in their disciplined respect for elders. Indeed, the challenges of colonization have served to accentuate eldership in new ways. Using archival and ethnographic research, Michael D. McNally follows the making of Ojibwe eldership, showing that deference to older women and men is part of a fuller moral, aesthetic, and cosmological vision connected to the ongoing circle of life a tradition of authority that has been crucial to surviving colonization. McNally argues that the tradition of authority and the authority of tradition frame a decidedly indigenous dialectic, eluding analytic frameworks of invented tradition and naïve continuity. Demonstrating the rich possibilities of treating age as a category of analysis, McNally provocatively asserts that the elder belongs alongside the priest, prophet, sage, and other key figures in the study of religion.

Headline-grabbing murders are not the only cases in which sanity has been disputed in the American courtroom. Susanna Blumenthal traces this litigation, revealing how ideas of human consciousness, agency, and responsibility have shaped American jurisprudence as judges struggled to reconcile Enlightenment rationality with new sciences of the mind.

In the early 1980s world recession and widespread unemployment had accentuated an existing trend – more people retiring from work early and living longer after doing so. Some were adequately prepared for a life of well-earned ‘leisure’ in retirement, but too many were not. The policies of employers, unions and governments on retirement needed to be challenged in societies where work opportunities were collapsing but where leisure activities and values were not yet strong enough to take their place. Originally published in 1982, Dr Parker, a sociologist, provides a careful and critical examination of what we knew about retirement and discusses possible alternative answers to the various problems involved at the time. The history of retirement is first considered, followed by a conceptual analysis of types of retirement. There are chapters on preparation for retirement, the capacity of older people to work, and on the varying experiences of retirement. Separate consideration is given to the question of work after retirement age and whether retirement is actually experienced as leisure. The concluding chapter examines various policy alternatives for dealing with the problems raised earlier in the book. Work and Retirement was intended for students of industrial sociology and industrial psychology, for personnel and human resource professionals, for trade unionists and for all those who had an interest in understanding the developments in the field of retirement and the older working population. Now it can be read in its historical context.