Aging Angry

In Aging Angry, distinguished gerontologist, Amanda Barusch, confronts her own justified fury at having been pushed into unwanted university retirement by diving into original research on gray rage, while also providing a sobering survey of anger across history, philosophy and culture. She argues that the smoldering anger associated with late life, rather than an unsightly negative emotion to be reproached, often stems from legitimate causes. By leaning into one’s consternation, she contends, we may harness our ire with productive purposes, from resolving family estrangement to protesting injustice, like the Raging Grannies. Barusch inverts the old cliché of Boston politics, as if she’d counsel, “Don’t get even, get mad!” And make worthwhile change.

—Paul Kleyman
National Coordinator, Journalists Network on Generations

Jump-started by her own unexpected and shocking experience of ageism in academe, Amanda Barusch's Aging Angry is eminently reasonable for a book about anger, the righteous, intelligent kind that surfaces as we grow older and are likely to encounter and observe more injustice—especially toward older adults, women, people with disabilities or low incomes, and later-life activists who fight the power. Barusch's fascinating interviews with "grumpy, cantankerous, and obstreperous elders" deepen our interest in using this primary emotion effectively to heal our nations of the common curse of ageism and improve the world.

—Margaret Morganroth Gullette
author of Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People

Superbly researched with stories interwoven to amplify our understanding of anger through multiple lenses: historical, cultural, psychological, and philosophical. Additionally, Barusch provides a highly personal perspective, as her experience of being pushed out of academia provided the impetus to explore anger with a gerontological twist. This work fills a gap in knowledge about … anger and its various manifestations. It’s a clear and compelling read.

—Constance Corley
Emeritus Professor, Cal State Los Angeles Source

Drawing upon the great philosophers, religion, psychology, and her interviews with older adults and experts, Barusch comprehensively analyzes anger—an emotion often stigmatized, especially among older women, and relatively invisible in the field of gerontology. Her own personal experience with anger upon her retirement fueled her interest in the paradox faced by older adults of living forward while looking backward, which often underlies their anger. When older adults realize that love and anger can coexist and turn their anger into activism, they experience personal growth and oftentimes become activists for social change.

—Nancy Hooyman
Dean Emeritus, University of Washington School of Social Work

With wisdom, wit, and style, Amanda Barusch affirms anger as an emotion to be embraced constructively as we age into later adulthood. From surveying world history and mythology to psychology and neuroscience, Dr. Barusch describes the nuanced nature of anger’s relationship with the human experience. She draws on lessons learned through interviews to provide a roadmap for older adults to activate their anger to live fuller lives and improve the social good. In doing so, Dr. Barusch’s book arrives as a fresh and necessary tome to challenge and inspire all of us to reconsider the positive role and utility of anger in our lives.

—Mitch Rosenwald
Professor of Social Work, Director of Doctoral Studies, Barry University School of Social Work