This book draws upon an impressive range of sources to show that, contrary to a common belief, people have grown old in every known society and, challenging the stereotype of old age uniformity, that their lives have always been highly diverse. A valuable deepening of our knowledge of an important, fast-growing demographic group. * Professor Pat Thane, Birkbeck College London * An extraordinarily rich book for historians and all those interested in understanding the dreams (and nightmares) of old age. * Javier Moscoso, author of The Arc of Feeling * There is great comfort to be had in knowing that our dreams of old age bear the history of our ancestor's dreams as well as the new possibilities of the modern age. Barbara Rosenwein's brilliant survey teaches us that we are not alone in how we might imagine life in its closing chapters. * Thomas Laqueur *
