An unedifying yet essential reference on dealing with aging.
Valuable advice about the second half of life.
Getting old is not for the faint of heart, but this lucid guide by Whitman, chief public policy officer for the AARP, will help many readers along the path. Of course, physical and mental health is likely readers’ leading worry, so the author starts there. According to a recent Harvard study, women live an extra 14 years, and men 12, if they adhered to “five healthy habits—a good diet, exercise, a healthy body weight, no smoking, and very limited alcohol intake.” As the author notes, dementia is now more feared than cancer. Following her recommended habits reduces the risk modestly, but it’s best to start young. Whitman’s discussions on paying for old age and managing dying are frighteningly illuminating. American retirement rests on three systems: pensions, Social Security, and savings. Pensions are nearly nonexistent in today’s business world; Social Security will continue (that it will go bankrupt is a myth), but it cannot serve as someone’s sole source of income. Savings are essential, but poor people are not able to save adequately, and poverty rates have been rising since the 1980s. Almost everyone wants to die at home, but the work involved is grueling and expensive. Although enormously helpful, hospice and palliative care services are underfunded and enmeshed in bureaucracy; furthermore, doctors are often slow to get involved. Whitman’s concluding summary is sensible but sober. Most readers are aware that poverty levels, income disparities, and lack of social service support place the U.S. in a precarious position, and no big changes are in the works. Straining to find good news, the author describes state programs to assist the elderly and imaginative “grassroots innovation” that may or may not catch on. Alas, no one expects action from Washington, D.C.
An unedifying yet essential reference on dealing with aging.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780393867657
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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PERSPECTIVES
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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