Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People (Global Perspectives on Aging)

Reads like a textbook.

An important, eye-opening book. Provides tremendous insight into age and ageism in US society. This is a text we all should read, of whatever age.

With laser-like focus, Gullette parades instance after instance of often unnoticed ageist encounters. Such encounters distort human interactions and raise profound ethical concerns that challenge preoccupations with individual cases as central to the domain of ethics and aging. When entire groups of people, for no other reason that their appearance as old, are marginalized and denied full participation in public life, it creates a powerful problem of justice--the denial of equal respect and regard. This denial has practical as well as symbolic importance as people who are old try to distance themselves from whom they are as they seek entry into the category of "not old." While the plea for personal exceptionalism is totally understandable in an ageist society, it means denying their own history, letting others set the normative standards by which they live and collaborating in the negative assessment of late life. What happens to identity, self-esteem and appreciation for whom we are, when we (I am 76) can no longer claim a "youthful" identity, which culture has long ago denied us? Unfortunately, we are not immune from responding to cultural disregard even if it works to our disadvantage.This is all very relevant right now as threats to Medicare and Social Security loom large as the narrative that we are all doing so well is reinforced by claims that Gullette addresses-- we cannot afford all those old people. Gullette thus calls upon us not only to expose ageism wherever it occurs, to admit it into our consciousness and to resist it in every way we can, she also provides points of entry into what often seems to me to be a stone wall--the ageism that persists despite many years' efforts to displace it. We must start by acknowledging it, the step prior to resisting it by not being shamed by our less than youthful appearance and by insisting that calling us "young lady" is not a compliment but a denial of one (albeit not the only) part of our identity. Until we are regarded with equal regard and welcomed into public life, the ethical problems related to old age will persist. NOTE: I REVIEWED THIS BOOK FROM PRE-PUBLICATION GALLEYS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER. MY LATEST BOOK IS --WOMEN IN LATE LIFE: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER AND AGE --

This is a sobering, insightful, eye-opening book about a topic that is pervasive and too often hidden from our view, in large part because most of us have internalized at least some aspects of ageism without realizing it. It's already changed the way I read and teach books and the way I'm thinking about my own life. It's beautifully written, arresting, and empowering. Read it!

I thought I knew practically everything there was to know about ageism, but [this] book made me gasp in places. It reads like a prize winner.It seems ageism isn't just a deeply buried bias that's too seldom recognized for what it is. It can be blatant. Threatening. Dangerous. Gullette's book digs deep in many areas.

Wide-ranging and deeply empathic, Gullette's beautifully written book on the way our culture represents and talks about aging is destined to be a classic that will challenge and hopefully transform the thinking of her readers. Inez Hedges

Margaret Gullette is our greatest, clearest, fiercest voice in defense of older people. In this book she shines a brilliant light onageism, pointing to the many ways in which the old are disregarded, even discarded, in American culture.

Penetrating, complex analysis of age bias. Offers inspiration and hope for change.

Margaret Morganroth Gullette's "Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People" is a thoroughly good read and a further exploration of the realms of American ageism. Gullette recalls in her customary excellent prose how, for instance, portrait photography manages to break ageist paradigms, and the photographs she choses are very original examples. Another interesting field she discovers for the consequences of ageism is agriculture. I recommend the book highly to all those who want to learn about the damaging aspects of ageism and to find strategies to counteract them.