The Decline of Life: Old Age in Eighteenth-Century England: 39 (Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time, Series Number 39) - Softcover

Ottaway, Susannah R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521037921 ISBN 13: 9780521037921

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

The Decline of Life is an ambitious and absorbing study of old age in eighteenth-century England. Drawing on a wealth of sources - literature, correspondence, poor house and workhouse documents and diaries - Susannah Ottaway considers a wide range of experiences and expectations of age in the period, and demonstrates that the central concern of ageing individuals was to continue to live as independently as possible into their last days. Ageing men and women stayed closely connected to their families and communities, in relationships characterized by mutual support and reciprocal obligations. Despite these aspects of continuity, however, older individuals' ability to maintain their autonomy, and the nature of the support available to them once they did fall into necessity declined significantly in the last decades of the century. As a result, old age was increasingly marginalized. Historical demographers, historical gerontologists, sociologists, social historians and women's historians will find this book essential reading.

About this title

About the Author

Susannah R. Ottaway is Assistant Professor of History at Carleton College, Minnesota.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521037921
• ISBN 13: 9780521037921
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 340