Haim Hazan is a leading specialist on old age in anthropology, and he has published several monographs on particular communities of old people. The present book is a general essay on the realities of old age, as it is experienced, as opposed to the ideas about the old current in western societies. It argues that the construction of this world by outsiders is inevitably affected by deeply ingrained social attitudes and structures, such as the spatial segregation of the aged as a category, and the fear of death with which they are associated. By approaching the subject from a social constructionist perspective, and drawing on a variety of detailed ethnographic accounts of the old, the author describes a unique and nuanced social world. This is a sophisticated and original book, which should have a significant impact on a field still dominated by a 'social problems' approach.