Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders [Paperback]

Theodore Roszak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2001

Three decades after publishing his classic The Making of a Counter Culture — and after two brushes with death — Theodore Roszak was forced to confront his mortality and that of a generation of baby boomers who never realized they were subject to the same laws of aging as their predecessors. In Longevity Revolution, Roszak turns his critical eye to what he calls “the implications of mass longevity as a social phenomenon.” Revised for paperback publication, the book counters conventional views of elders as burdens, seeing them instead as the culture’s great resource. Roszak explores in detail such critical issues as economics, politics, medicine, ethics, biotechnology, the class divide, and the fetish for youthfulness that dominate American culture. He envisions a world in which elders are honored for their insights, values, and abilities in creating a more compassionate society This edition includes a new introduction, updated statistics, and two new chapters on retirement and grandparenting.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkeley Hills Books; 2nd edition (March 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893163504
• ISBN-13: 978-1893163508
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Theodore Roszak (1933-2011) was the author of fifteen books, including the 1969 classic "The Making of a Counter Culture." He was professor emeritus of history at California State University, and lived in Berkeley, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aging boomers will get better., July 20, 2003

By 

Philip Carl "EcoAngler" (Half Moon Bay, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders (Paperback)

Longevity Revolution examines a rare and powerful social change soon to be making its way into the American culture. The graying of America's baby boomers will put the country's senior population on par with each of the younger population sizes. Well founded or not, younger generations fear the future where they must carry the financial burden of senior entitlement programs. Rather than paint aging boomers with that unkind brush, Longevity Revolution sees them as a national asset.

Throughout most of the book, the author displays great faith that the boomer generation will make more enlightened life choices (e.g., playing less golf, and spending more time volunteering for social justice). Along that line, he believes that the older and wiser boomer will sacrifice much of their material comforts to find fulfillment in non-material ways. As a consequent, this large senior demographic will use much less of the world's resources, and will send a message to our youth to "walk lightly" on the planet.

Whether or not you share the same faith in a kinder and gentler baby boomer generation, the book presents a number of reasonable scenarios that could play out in the coming decades (e.g., terrific advances in medicine giving boomers much more productive golden years). After reading Longevity Revolution I was left with the impression that boomers will become far less demanding and materialistic in old age, and somehow more interested in the well being of others, the future of our planet, etc. I'm hopeful, but wonder if you can teach "an old dog a new trick."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The making of an elder culture, May 10, 2004

By 

Brent Green "Author of Marketing to Leading-E... (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders (Paperback)

Longevity Revolution is an intellectual adventure, a tour de force. This brilliant author reveals a wealth of original thinking about the changing nature of society due to the phenomenon of an aging population, and more specifically, an aging baby boom. He makes a cogent case for a healthcare economy and a society that uplifts rather than sidelines its oldest citizens. He embraces the aging process as the ultimate expression of a technologically advanced civilization. His acerbic pen effectively skewers conservative scare tactics about entitlements, juvenile media tactics, and a culture focused on youth to the exclusion of maturity. Roszak was and is the leading thinker about the odyssey of a generation.