Product Description

As the definitive study of the universal problem of growing old, The Coming of Ageis "a brilliant achievement" (Marc Slonin, New York Times). What do the words elderly, old, and aged really mean? How are they used by society, and how in turn do they define the generation that we are taught to respect and love but instead castigate and avoid? Most importantly, how is our treatment of this generation a reflection of our society's values and priorities?

In The Coming of Age, Simone de Beauvoir seeks greater understanding of our perception of elders. With bravery, tenacity, and forceful honesty, she guides us on a study spanning a thousand years and a variety of different nations and cultures to provide a clear and alarming picture of "Society's secret shame"-the separation and distance from our communities that the old must suffer and endure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #516779 in Books
• Published on: 1996-06-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

About the Author
Simone de Beauvoir is the author of The Second Sex and the winner of the Prix Goncourt, France's highest honor, for The Mandarins.

Patrick O'Brian wrote many novels, including the extraordinarily popular Aubrey/Maturin series about the Royal Navy in the time of Nelson. He died in 2000.

Customer Reviews

Understanding our older loved ones
I read this book by when my grandmother was living her last days in a nursing home. There was so much I didn't know about older people -- what is important to them, how they think, what their needs are, how they approach death. Simone de Beauvoir, the celebrated French thinker and writer offers an in-depth study of older people as individuals and older people in society. She also looks at the treatment and psychology of older people across time in western civilization. Anyone who is a caretaker of an older family member or friend, or cares about understanding older people will find this book remarkable and thoughtful.

are old people real people? that is de Beauvoir's question.
are old people real people? that is de Beauvoir's question.
When I first read this book 30 years ago, I thought it was so great I assigned it to my students in a course on gerontology. Now that I am older than the author was when she wrote it, I realize how little she really knew about old people.
de Beauvoir is not a sociologist or a gerontologist, but a professor of philosophy and leftist French writer. She (and her partner Jean Paul Sartre) often took official positions on certain topics as a matter of principle, but with little understanding coming from the heart. She has a clear philosopher's gaze and is utterly pitiless. She doesn't cut people any slack.
Her great contribution here is that she brings a wider attention to what it's like being old in terms of how societies conceptualize old age and in terms of old age as a subjective experience by quoting from the lives and works of famous authors and artists who lived to a ripe old age, defined as anything over 60! How times have changed. Currently the average life expectancy in the US is over 75! (It's over 83 in Kansas).
I now live in a town of 15000 whose founding mayor was elected over the age of 80 (he died in office, suddenly, at 86 in the middle of a development planning project).
Many of my neighbors are pushing 90 or 100 (and over) and keep active walking for miles and swimming for hours daily. Are they real people? You bet! Are some of my neighbors with canes, walkers, hearing aids, cataract surgery and nurse's aides or companions real people? You bet!
The amazing thing about old age is people just want to keep on doing what they are used to doing for as long as they can.
Many of the peculiarities of age that de Beauvoir describes are now known to be due to physical medical problems which are treatable. However, her work is still valid for those last few weeks or months of severe impairment before death.
You just won't feel good after reading this book.

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