Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights #1 Ageism is the discrimination against older people, and it is pervasive in American society. It is a combination of prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age, and aging itself. #2 As modernity took root in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, older members of society were reduced to a status of social inferiority. The young United States was a gerontocracy, where older men held the reins. #3 The status of older Americans is rooted not only in historic and economic circumstances, but also in deeply human fears about the inherent vulnerabilities of old age. We live in a culture that has yet to develop the language and tools to deal with these changes. #4 Ageism is the prejudice against our own future selves, and it takes root in denial of the fact that we're going to get old. It's manifest in the widespread effort to pass for younger, and in the disparaging comments I know that this isn't true of anyone else in the room, but I'm not getting any younger.