Another Country - by Mary Pipher (Paperback)

About the Book

Writing from her experience as a therapist and from interviews with families and older people, the author of "Reviving Ophelia" offers scenarios to help bridge the generation gap. Through poignant and hopeful stories of real children, adults, and elders, Pipher helps readers understand that the landscape of age is truly of another country.

Book Synopsis

A New York Times Bestseller

There are more older people in America today than ever before. They are our parents and grandparents, our aunts and uncles and in-laws. They are living longer, but in a culture that has come to worship youth--a culture in which families have dispersed, communities have broken down, and older people are isolated. Meanwhile, adults in two-career families are struggling to divide their time among their kids, their jobs, and their aging parents--searching for the right words to talk about loneliness, forgetfulness, or selling the house.

Another Country is a field guide to this rough terrain for a generation of baby boomers who are finding themselves unprepared to care for those who have always cared for them. Psychologist and bestselling writer Mary Pipher maps out strategies that help bridge the gaps that separate us from our elders. And with her inimitable combination of respect and realism, she offers us new ways of supporting each other--new ways of sharing our time, our energy, and our love.

From the Back Cover

Mary Pipher's third New York Times bestseller -- a book about us and our parents . . .

There are more older people in America today than ever before. They are our parents and grandparents, our aunts and uncles and in-laws. They are living longer, but in a culture that has come to worship youth -- a culture in which families have dispersed, communities have broken down, and older people are isolated. Meanwhile, adults in two-career families are struggling to divide their time among their kids, their jobs, and their aging parents -- searching for the right words to talk about loneliness, forgetfulness, or selling the house.

Another Country is a field guide to this rough terrain for a generation of baby boomers who are finding themselves unprepared to care for those who have always cared for them. Psychologist and bestselling writer Mary Pipher maps out strategies that help bridge the gaps that separate us from our elders. And with her inimitable combination of respect and realism, she offers us new ways of supporting each other -- new ways of sharing our time, our energy, and our love.

Review Quotes

"[Pipher] observes that to grow old for many people in today's fragmented, age-phobic, age-segregated America is to inhabit a foreign country, isolated, disconnected, and misunderstood."
--"The New York Times"

"Pipher explores how today's mobile, individualistic, media-drenched culture prevents so many dependent old people, and the relatives trying to do right by them, from getting what they need...Her insights will help people of several generations."
--"The Washington Post"

"Totally accessible...["Another Country"] is a compassionate...look at the disconnect between baby boomers and their aging parents or grandparents."
--"USA"" Today"

"A field guide to old age, combining personal stories with social theory."
--"The Boston Globe"

"Passionate and eloquent...There's a profound depth to this wise and moving book. Go read."
--"Lincoln"" Star-Journal "

"Rich in stories and full in details."
--"St. Louis"" Post-Dispatch"

"Older men and women, as well as their children and grandchildren, will find this well-written and a sensitive investigation of aging...Enlightening and engrossing."
--"Publishers Weekly"

"Well written and sensitive...a wealth of information about the problems of growing older."
-- Publisher's Weekly

"Totally accessible . . . [Another Country] is a compassionate . . . look at the disconnect between baby boomers and their aging parents or grandparents".

-- USA Today

About the Author

Mary Pipher, Ph.D., is a psychologist and the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestsellers Women Rowing North, Reviving Ophelia, The Shelter of Each Other, and Another Country, as well as Seeking Peace and Writing to Change the World. She lives in Nebraska.