SOURCE: A review of Old Age from Antiquity to Post-Modernity, in American Historical Review, Vol. 105, No. 5, December, 2000, pp. 1699–700.

In the following review, Haber concludes that Old Age from Antiquity to Post-Modernity is “a valuable contribution to the growing study of old age in the past,” despite shortcomings in the volume's lack of unity and narrow focus on Western Europe.

In 1977, Peter N. Stearns noted that few scholars had published on the history of old age. While social history had addressed itself to childhood and the adult life of men and women, little research had been given to the last stage of life. Since that time, of course, numerous monographs and articles focused on the history of old age in both America and Europe. Coming nearly twenty-five years after Stearns's pronouncement, this collection of essays [Old Age from Antiquity to Post-Modernity] edited by Paul Johnson and Pat Thane adds...