Let's face it: almost everyone fears growing older. We worry about losing our looks, our health, our jobs, our self-esteemand being supplanted in work and love by younger people. It feels like the natural, inevitable consequence of the passing years, but what if its not? What if nearly everything that we think of as the natural process of aging is anything but? In this book, the author, a renowned cultural critic reveals that much of what we dread about aging is actually the result of ageism which we can, and should, battle as strongly as we do racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry. Drawing on provocative and under reported evidence from biomedicine, literature, economics, and personal stories, she probes the ageism that drives discontent with our bodies, ourselves, and our accomplishmentsand makes us easy prey for marketers who want to sell us an illusory vision of youthful perfection. Even worse, rampant ageism causes society to discount, and at times completely discard, the wisdom and experience acquired by people over the course of adulthood. The costs both collective and personal of this culture of decline are almost incalculable, diminishing our workforce, robbing younger people of hope for a decent later life, and eroding the satisfactions and sense of productivity that should animate our later years. Once we open our eyes to the pervasiveness of ageism, however, we can begin to fight it and the author lays out ambitious plans for the whole life course, from teaching children anti-ageism to fortifying the social safety nets, and thus finally making possible the real pleasures and opportunities promised by the new longevity.