I’m buried in readying the umpteenth draft of my book, This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, so I can put it into production next week. Here are two advance blurbs to whet the appetite:
“Ashton Applewhite is a public intellectual who makes her conversion to anti-ageism the core of exhilarating lectures and a snarky blog, Yo, is this Ageist? Now she provides a knowledgeable, straight-talking, and witty book that briskly explains to anyone how-wrong-we-are-about-aging. There’s radical news here to enlighten the most “done” starlet, and tart turns of phrase to captivate the most expert age critic: “All aging is ‘successful’—not just the sporty version—otherwise you’re dead.” This pithy primer ought ideally to be given to every American adolescent–to inoculate them against the lies and stereotypes that can spoil the long life course they will all want.”
— Margaret Morganroth Gullette is the author of Aged by Culture and the prize-winning Agewise and Declining to Decline
“A smart and stirring call to add ageism to the list of ‘isms’ that divide us, and to mobilize against it. Applewhite shows how ageism distorts our view of old age, and urges us to challenge age-based prejudices in ourselves and in society. An important wake-up call for any baby boomer who’s apprehensive about growing old.
— Pepper Schwartz, Professor of Sociology, University of Washington and AARP ‘s Official Love & Relationship Ambassador