Aging out : an exploration of caregiving, community, and how Americans grow old / Lucy Schiller.

By:

Schiller, Lucy [author]

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: New York : Flatiron Books, 2026Edition: First editionDescription: pages cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9781250344526

Subject(s):

LOC classification:

HQ1064.U5 S355 2026

Summary: "A deeply personal investigation into the current state of eldercare and what it means to grow old in America Unlike many other cultures, our collective stance toward older people in the United States has long been one of casual avoidance and neglect. This attitude became brutally clear during the height of the COVID pandemic, when too many people saw elderly deaths not as tragedies but as foregone conclusions. Like many of us, Lucy Schiller experienced this callousness firsthand when her grandmother passed away during the pandemic. In the wake of this trauma, propelled by equal parts grief and curiosity about her own fear of aging, Schiller embarked on an investigative journey to understand why the prospect of aging is so frightening and how being "old" in America intersects with class, race, disability, and public policy. From profit-driven networks of care facilities to systemic failures in economic support, the future of older Americans looks increasingly uncertain. In Aging Out, Schiller reports this crisis, sharing the human toll of inadequate housing, health care, and community, while simultaneously excavating her own complicated relationship with aging. Combining the incisive reporting of Evicted with the beautifully rendered introspection of The Empathy Exams, Aging Out is an intimate and unflinching exploration of what it means to age in this country and why Americans-including Schiller herself-are so terrified of getting old"-- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: Coming Soon

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	New Books		Ordered

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A profoundly personal investigation into the current state of eldercare and what it means to grow old in America

"Schiller unpacks a complicated subject with curiosity and empathy...[A] deeply human portrayal of what it means to get older in a society unprepared to care for its most vulnerable."-- Publishers Weekly

Unlike many other cultures, our collective stance toward older people in the United States has long been one of casual avoidance and neglect. This attitude became brutally clear during the height of the COVID pandemic, when too many people saw elderly deaths not as tragedies but as foregone conclusions.

Like many of us, Lucy Schiller experienced this callousness firsthand when her grandmother passed away during the pandemic. In the wake of this trauma, propelled by equal parts grief and curiosity about her own fear of aging, Schiller embarked on an investigative journey to understand why the prospect of aging is so frightening and how being "old" in America intersects with class, race, disability, and public policy.

From profit-driven networks of care facilities to systemic failures in economic support, the future of older Americans looks increasingly uncertain. In Aging Out , Schiller reports this crisis, sharing the human toll of inadequate housing, health care, and community, while simultaneously excavating her own complicated relationship with aging.

Combining the incisive reporting of Evicted with the beautifully rendered introspection of The Empathy Exams , Aging Out is an intimate and unflinching exploration of what it means to age in this country and why Americans--including Schiller herself--are so terrified of getting old.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"A deeply personal investigation into the current state of eldercare and what it means to grow old in America Unlike many other cultures, our collective stance toward older people in the United States has long been one of casual avoidance and neglect. This attitude became brutally clear during the height of the COVID pandemic, when too many people saw elderly deaths not as tragedies but as foregone conclusions. Like many of us, Lucy Schiller experienced this callousness firsthand when her grandmother passed away during the pandemic. In the wake of this trauma, propelled by equal parts grief and curiosity about her own fear of aging, Schiller embarked on an investigative journey to understand why the prospect of aging is so frightening and how being "old" in America intersects with class, race, disability, and public policy. From profit-driven networks of care facilities to systemic failures in economic support, the future of older Americans looks increasingly uncertain. In Aging Out, Schiller reports this crisis, sharing the human toll of inadequate housing, health care, and community, while simultaneously excavating her own complicated relationship with aging. Combining the incisive reporting of Evicted with the beautifully rendered introspection of The Empathy Exams, Aging Out is an intimate and unflinching exploration of what it means to age in this country and why Americans-including Schiller herself-are so terrified of getting old"-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

When one of Schiller's grandmothers died of COVID during the pandemic, she noticed that people were dismissive because of her age. It was as if, because she was older, her death was expected and not of consequence. This felt wrong to Schiller, prompting her to explore aging in this country. Schiller lived in her other grandmother's home as a caretaker during the pandemic. These experiences with her two grandmothers inform some of her explorations. She investigates nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and the means to pay for them. The high cost of caring for older adults led her to learn how Medicaid and Medicare work. She examines AARP, which began in California in 1958 as a plan for retired teachers, and notes that its current business model involves selling insurance. Schiller finds that 80 percent of people over age 65 struggle financially and discusses the fading out of mandatory retirement ages and how many older people still work to avoid precarity. Amid her research, she grapples with her own feelings about aging. VERDICT This sensitive, introspective book honestly examines aging in the U.S.--Caren Nichter

Publishers Weekly Review

Schiller, a nonfiction writing professor at Texas Tech, debuts with a moving examination of the complex reality of growing old in the U.S. After her grandmother died of Covid-19, Schiller's grief was complicated by others' assumptions that the loss was somehow less significant because of her grandmother's age. Schiller set out to learn about myriad facets of aging, including the increase in for-profit nursing homes and assisted living facilities (with a median annual cost of $110,000), the rising costs of healthcare (one retired couple she interviewed said they spend about $1,055 per month for Medicare, gap coverage, and supplemental prescription plans), and attempts to address social isolation, including a company that advertises the services of college students as "grandkids on-demand." What emerges is a series of intersecting crises that disproportionately impact the most marginalized elders. While activist groups have worked to improve the conditions that led to "the political and social carving out of old age as separate," which has "allowed for its commodification," Schiller writes, significant challenges remain. Weaving broad social analysis with personal insights, Schiller unpacks a complicated subject with curiosity and empathy. It's a deeply human portrayal of what it means to get older in a society unprepared to care for its most vulnerable. (July)