From the Publisher
"Our culture too often defines our lives as a journey of three parts, the final one running from age 65 until death. But as Thomas Cole makes clear there is a "fourth age," encompassing those over 80, and it's growing at four-times the rate of the U. S. population as a whole. Intertwining elegant snippets of his personal recollections with riveting interviews of well-known 'fourth age' men, Cole pushes us to reconsider the holistic nature of our lives. Not just an important book, but a revolutionary one as well." — David Oshinsky, Director, Division of Medical Humanities, New York University
"Beautifully written, honest, and insightful, Cole's Old Man Country tackles key questions about aging and manhood, blending profiles and memoir to show us how exceptional men (including the author himself ) change and adapt to old age." — Louise Aronson, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and author of Elderhood"What is a good old age? At a time when 10,000 Americans turn 65 each day, the question is more timely than ever. In Old Man Country, Cole concludes there's not one answer, but many. His deeply personal interviews with men in the 'fourth age' reveal that growth doesn't come to a sudden halt in middle age and that there are countless ways to prove that life still matters even in the face of inevitable physical decline." — Richard M. Smith, President, The Pinkerton Foundation"At a time when our culture is calling male privilege into question, Cole's interviews reveal much about the actual lives of men at the pinnacle of American privilege, as they candidly reflect on their decades of influence across a wide range of fields. Readers of Old Man Country will meet a dozen powerful personalities in their 80s and 90s, from former Fed chairman Paul Volcker to spiritual guru Ram Dass, as well as those less well known. Their reflections on family, work, love, and, most importantly, life's meaning are sometimes leavened by unvarnished observations from the women in their lives. Along the way, Cole offers valuable insights from his own moving journey into later life." — Paul Kleyman, Founder and National Coordinator, Journalists Network on Generations