Feature Article
Aging Angry
(433 words)
It’s Never too Late to Get Good and Mad
A new perspective on late-life anger
At 62, Amanda Barusch figured she had another ten good years of work ahead of her; but this was not to be. A new boss targeted her as “dead wood” and his campaign to get her out left her “good and mad.”
“One day I realized that I wasn’t aging well. I was aging angry,” says Barusch.
So, like any lifelong academic, Barusch did some groundbreaking research and wrote a book. For Aging Angry, she surveyed hundreds of older adults about their experiences with anger. She interviewed experts in fields ranging from philosophy to men’s rights. Then she drew from a wealth of literary and scholarly sources to develop a new perspective on anger.
The resulting work, released in 2024 by Oxford University Press, is described by Mitch Rosenwald of Barry University 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.”
Few people imagine that anger might be part of the aging experience. Indeed, older adults are expected to be “wise,” which means they aren’t expected to experience passions like love or anger. In fact, we tend to make fun of their age, calling them “grumpy old men” and the like. Barusch argues that anger is a common experience for older adults in our ageist society.
Reflecting on her surveys of older Americans, Barusch explains, “In a way, it was comforting to learn how many other people were experiencing anger in their later years. But in another way, it just compounded my frustration.”
Barusch was especially surprised to learn how many people over 60 commit mass murder. Apart from the widespread availability of automatic weapons, she attributes this phenomenon to our failure to take late-life anger seriously. “These killers’ anger made my rage look like child’s play,” says Barusch. “But the basic emotion is familiar.”
“Most of us know how to address our anger but, due in part to the violence in our society, we are afraid of it. So instead of listening to our rage, we suppress it until we no longer can. Then we do things we regret.”
Barusch argues that late life is an excellent time to “turn towards our anger and tease out its root cause, whether it’s a mistaken belief or a social injustice.” The book closes with case studies of late-life activists who have channeled their anger. It offers a new perspective, arguing that anger is “the eye of the heart.”
