Here, for the first time, a group of leading historians address these and allied questions, writing vividly about a topic that has for too long been surrounded by taboo. The true history of old age is infinitely more varied than we have supposed.
The visual evidence is of major importance, and here the book is highly original. Drawing upon the rich legacy of art through two millennia, but looking beneath the surface in ways not always intended by the artists, it presents a picture that is sometimes compassionate, sometimes horrifying, but overall unexpectedly reassuring.