Product Description

The topic of retirement becomes increasingly compelling as the U.S. population ages. It's easy to find books about how to plan financially for those years after careers end, but Breaking the Watch focuses on the many ways of creating a life, not just making a living, as a retired person.

This book follows women and men from a rural American community as they approach and experience the first years of retirement. Joel Savishinsky focuses on the efforts people make to find meaning in a stage of life American culture often views in a confused or disdainful way.

In conversations and stories, 13 men and 13 women demonstrate a deep commitment to defining their own retirement. They bring to their mature years a diversity of backgrounds, interests, and responsibilities. They include former teachers, librarians, doctors, farmers, lawyers, bankers, mail carriers, and secretaries. Some are married, others divorced or single; many have children and grandchildren, but some have neither. Their finances run the gamut from the modest to the munificent, while their health ranges from robust to disabled.

From an examination of the "rites of passage" that marked their exit from full- time work, Breaking the Watch moves on to consider how to plan appropriately for retirement; renegotiate ties to friends, family, and community; and create a sense of passion--be it for t'ai chi, travel, painting, or politics--that will drive a new sense of purpose. These intimate glimpses into real lives allow a rare understanding of the retirement process.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #853938 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Bringing his considerable research skills and experience with other projects on aging to bear on this essentially anecdotal study, Savishinsky (The Ends of Time: Life and Work in a Nursing Home) relates his findings after extensive conversations and interviews with 26 recent retirees (all of them white and middle class) in a small upper New York State community called "Shelby." Nudged into early retirement, former postal worker Nate Rumsfeld found that he and his wife could meet their financial obligations just on his pension and her job as a receptionist. After a brief "honeymoon period," he endured an unanticipated stretch of worry and stress that disturbed his marriage until he was able to occupy himself with part-time employment. On the other hand, 67-year-old Alic Armani, recently divorced from an alcoholic husband, finally was free to pursue the painting career she had dreamed of when she was a young art student after she retired from her job as director of a social service agency. Although his subjects had unique reactions to retiring, Savishinsky does draw some tentative lessons in this quiet study, which is not definitive or wide-ranging enough to appeal to a wide audience. Among other unsurprising conclusions, he believes that those considering retirement should think carefully about it, leave their jobs on a good note and rediscover the passionate interests they may not have had time for during their working lives. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ithaca College anthropology and gerontology professor Savishinsky explores how 26 men and women in a small upstate New York town experienced their retirements. The subjects, half men and half women, all worked outside the home, most in middle-class, white-collar occupations (education, the professions, fairly high-level administrative work), but the group also includes a postman and several clerical retirees. The youngest retired at 54 owing to health problems; the oldest, at 77, still worked part-time. Using participant observation, informal and structured interviews, and life-story analysis, the author examines the "process" of retirement his subjects experienced and places their difficulties and achievements in the context of several other societies' rituals for and expectations of their older members. The retirees studied here are thoughtful, often eloquent observers of their new position in life; their "voices" are vivid and enlightening. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Finally, a book about retirement with some meaning
Tired of reading just about the financial aspects of retirement or all about the myths of retirement? Hunger to know the in-depth experiences of those who have retired and spent some time looking at the process? Well, sociologist and anthropologist Joel Savishinsky has studied 13 women and 13 men who've recently retired with in-depth "participant-observer" interviews. Best of all, each chapter while dealing with experiences of the participants, is summarized with meaningful interpretations. The author is a good interviewer and writer and spent a good deal of time with his "subjects". Chapters focus on ending work, role changes, the search for meaningful purpose, relationships and health. I found this book lucid, easily applicable to my own retirement issues and a window into the experiences of many of my retired friends.