Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement And Transform America (Paperback)

by Marc Freedman (Author) "The Work Connection was inspired, in part, by Peter DiCicco's con that labor unions needed to think bigger, to range beyond the narrow objective of..." (more)
Key Phrases: retirement community movement, reinventing retirement, third agers, Experience Corps, Sun City, Foster Grandparents (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Marc Freedman predicts that "a new kind of aging" will soon bring new life to America. In Prime Time, he writes that the baby boomers will turn their golden years into an intense time of social activism, volunteerism, and lifelong learning. In retirement, the Woodstock generation will still be trying to change the world. "The boomers will not accept the old notions of later life and retirement--they will refuse to remove themselves, go away or put up with being taken 'out of use or circulation'," writes Freedman, founder of the private, nonprofit Civic Ventures. However, to harness that energy for society's benefit, Freedman argues, government and business need to create programs that capitalize on baby boomers' love of learning and community service. The country also needs to wipe out ageism and other barriers.

Prime Time highlights a handy list of initiatives that already tap retirees for such roles as foster grandparents and volunteers at free medical clinics. The book also profiles people who are now reaping the benefits of remaining socially productive. Freedman debunks the notion that old boomers will only be a burden on the nation's health care and Social Security systems. Instead, they will be the largest, best-educated, and healthiest group of retirees ever, he writes. Insightful and well written, Prime Time is for anyone concerned about the economic and social changes under way with the aging of the baby boomers. --Dan Ring --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Freedman (The Kindness of Strangers), founder of Civil Ventures and an adviser to government and private groups on aging, contends that drastic social changes must be made to adjust to the coming demographic shifts in America. Within the next 50 years, based on current life expectancy, the number of people age 65 and older will surpass the number of people under age 18. With people healthier and living longer than ever before, the vision of retirement as leisure time is obsolete. The aging boomer population will be unwilling to accept traditional retirement, according to Freedman. But rather than see the glut of oldsters as a drain on the economy and health care system, as many forecasters do, Freedman sees it as an opportunity. To accommodate these older Americans, Freedman says, there will have to be more educational opportunities as well as flexible job positions. To help achieve these goals, he advocates the development of new institutions such as a Center for Unretirement, to help prepare people for new careers; an Institute for Learning in Retirement; and Experience Corps, to let older workers teach and help others in a variety of fields. While the individual case histories presented by Freedman are interesting and some of his proposals are sound, the book is less concrete nuts-and-bolts proposal and more advocacy for turning what he sees as a new stage in life into a constructive time for both elderly people and society as a whole. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; illustrated edition edition (March 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586481207
• ISBN-13: 978-1586481209
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #297,943 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's about time! , November 26, 2005

By	Robert (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Freedman is a refreshing voice who puts a welcome human face on the aging of our society--a topic most often dealt with through dire statistical predictions and paranoia. Prime Time illustrates that, while the demographic revolution is real, a negative whammy on America doesn't have to be the result. The profiles of everyday heroes reveal the classic American values of ingenuity and social concern applied through a new generation of retirement-age people. The perspective on the formation of the notion of "golden years" is informative. The succinct reporting of the prevailing social value attached to older Americans from the Puritan era (revered sources of wisdom) to more recent decades (keepers of leisure time) is important. And the telling of the selling of Sun City is a hoot--an "only in America" tale that provides lots of context for understanding society's ambivalence and confusion in dealing with the opportunity and challenges inherent in an aging population. This is a good book for anyone interested in new visions for an older country.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just the message we need, November 28, 2005

By	kjkstar - See all my reviews

The aging of America is upon us. Boomers will start turning 60 on January 1, 2006.

To read the papers, you would think that this event is going to be the start of a long gray sunset in which older adults suck the money out of the federal treasury and life out of our communities. Freedman's lively book suggests a different and much more optimistic view in which people who have finished their midlife careers can make great new contributions.

We have plenty of problems that need solving in our communities and in our country. Freedman shows us how older adults might play a huge role in meeting those challenges, and at the same time have an enriching experience in doing so.

A must read for anyone who is interested in what our society will look like over the next few decades.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gold watch = golden opportunity, November 21, 2005

By	Jeremy Cluchey (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marc Freedman hits the nail on the head in this book: the coming wave of retiring boomers represents an asset unlike any other, with the potential to transform the American economic and social landscape in ways we have yet to even consider. In the same way this generation revolutionized youth, politics, civil rights, women at work, childrearing, and every other issue with which it came in contact, so too will boomers revolutionize what America thinks about in terms of retirement. Freedman rightly notes that if their energy can be harnessed and directed to solving the country's social ills, the boomers stand poised to accomplish what no one else could.

As a young person with high hopes for the country's future, Freedman's book is a breath of fresh air. What makes America unique is its unprecedented potential for good, and nowhere has that potential been more clear than in the dynamic, thriving force of the boomer generation. Freedman's book captures that notion in compelling prose. A must-read for anyone looking for innovative solutions to society's real problems.