| Power and Poverty: Old Age in the Pre-Industrial Past Contributor(s): Ottaway, Susannah R. (Editor), Botelho, L. A. (Editor), Kittredge, Katharine (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0313311285 ISBN-13: 9780313311284 Publisher: Praeger OUR PRICE: $94.05 Product Type: Hardcover Published: October 2002 Annotation: Despite calls since the 1970s for more research into the history of old age, there is still a relative dearth of historical studies on the elderly, especially in the pre-industrial past. This volume remedies much of that deficiency with essays exploring the lives of old men and old women, and the images of old age and aging, in early modern Europe and America. Collectively, the chapters demonstrate there was a strong association of advanced age with authority in the lived experience of older men and women. This book recognizes poverty and physical limitations were a very real threat, but challenges the tendency of existing literature on historical gerontology to associate old age with dependence and disability. Instead, what emerges from this volume is the success of older people in the past in imbuing their old age with dignity, despite the often vicious nature of old age in both popular and elite literature. Essays are brought together on old age in early modern England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and America, enabling comparisons that cross geographical boundaries. Historians of old age, the family, demography, social history and cultural history will value this volume, as will sociologists and anthropologists interested in gerontology. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Gerontology |
| Dewey: 305.260 |
| LCCN: 2002021623 |
| Series: Contributions to the Study of Aging, |
| Physical Information: 1.13" H x 6.14" W x 9.92" (1.45 lbs) 312 pages |
| Themes: - Generational Orientation - Elderly/Aged |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Despite calls since the 1970s for more research into the history of old age, there is still a relative dearth of historical studies on the elderly, especially in the pre-industrial past. This volume remedies much of that deficiency with essays exploring the lives of old men and old women, and the images of old age and aging, in early modern Europe and America. Collectively, the chapters demonstrate there was a strong association of advanced age with authority in the lived experience of older men and women. This book recognizes poverty and physical limitations were a very real threat, but challenges the tendency of existing literature on historical gerontology to associate old age with dependence and disability. Instead, what emerges from this volume is the success of older people in the past in imbuing their old age with dignity, despite the often vicious nature of old age in both popular and elite literature. Essays are brought together on old age in early modern England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and America, enabling comparisons that cross geographical boundaries. Historians of old age, the family, demography, social history and cultural history will value this volume, as will sociologists and anthropologists interested in gerontology. |