Overview

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. The twentieth century has achieved what people in other centuries only dreamed of: many can now expect to survive to old age in reasonably good health and can remain active and independent to the end, in contrast to the high death rate, ill health and destitution which affected all ages in the past. Yet 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 these could be supported by their families without involving the taxpayer. In this first survey of old age throughout English history, these assumptions are challenged. Vivid pictures are given of the ways in which very large numbers of older people lived often 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 family and friends.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pat Thane (, Leverhulme Professor of Contemporary British History, Institute of Historical Research, London)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.30cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 24.20cm
Weight:   0.923kg
ISBN:  

9780198203827

ISBN 10:   0198203829
Pages:   548
Publication Date:   11 May 2000
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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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

Reviews

Monumental ... [Thane] is at her best when she reaches the turn of the nineteenth century and she holds the reader's attention to the end. Apt headlining of short chapters and some arresting conclusions make the book excellent for use as a textbook ... it is never unexciting, thanks to the eloquence of the writing and the way the author has given a voice to government authorities, researchers and the elderly themselves. Scandinavian Economic History Review The book represents a first-rate introduction to the field for nonspecialists. American Historical Review This ambitious synthesis, by a major scholar, reminds us of the richness and importance of the field. Pat Thane drives the point home by using historical perspective to comment intelligently on the present and future prospects of old age and the elderly. American Historical Review This is a landmark study ... it is a work on a grand canvas, from medieval times to the present, which expertly interweaves extensive personal research with the findings of others. Displaying great powers of synthesis and maturity of judgement, Old Age in English History puts a new field of historical studies firmly on the map Roy Porter, Times Literary Supplement

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