The New Senior Woman: Reinventing the Years Beyond Mid-Life - Hardcover

Thelma Reese, Ed.D., retired professor of English and of Education, created the Advisory Council for Hooked on Phonics and was its spokesperson in the '90's. In that role, and as director of the Mayor's Commission on Literacy for the City of Philadelphia, she appeared frequently on television and hosted a cable show in Philadelphia. Together, she and Barbara created and maintain the ElderChicks.com blog. She writes the monthly Family column for RightsideWire, and she and Barbara appear weekly on the Armstrong Williams show on Sirius Radio as he plumbs the wisdom of the "ElderChicks."

Barbara M. Fleisher, Ed.D., is a retired professor of education. She is the author of many journal articles and has presented her research at national and international conferences. She has made presentations and conducted many workshops for and about women in their 60's and beyond, and has interviewed hundreds of women about their concerns as they face new challenges in this stage in their lives.

Dick Goldberg (Foreword) is the national director of Coming of Age, the age 50+ civic engagement initiative working in 30 communities. In his previous career as a playwright and screenwriter, among the works he authored was the off-Broadway drama Family Business, which ran in New York for over a year, was produced in regional theatres around the world, and was the basis for his becoming a Guggenheim Fellow.

Since 1950, America’s population older than 60 has nearly tripled. In step Fleisher and Reese, retired professors who started the blog, www.ElderChicks.com, to share inspiring stories about how one’s senior years can be a 'time of renewal and reinvention.' Dick Goldberg, national director of Coming of Age (for Americans 50 and older), writes a lovely introduction about seniors maintaining freedom and independence. Indeed, that’s a common, food-for-thought theme throughout the book as Fleisher and Reese profile 'people who are truly mastering the art of a senior life.' Lawyer 'Cheryl L' frees herself from a moribund marriage. 'Shirley L,' in her mid-80s, plays tennis and still works at the art dealership she founded with her husband. At first, 'Joanne K' was devastated that her husband cheated on her. But eventually, she concluded that 'he was the bad guy here, not me!' And she got her master’s degree in psychology. The book ends, satisfyingly, with Elena S’s creed, 'While I can, I will. When I can’t, I won’t. But I’ll be glad that I did when I could.' (Booklist)

The later life of the senior woman today has little in common with her mother's or even grandmother's lives. To start she will live 20 to 30 years longer with better health, more vitality, and increased resources to affect changes in themselves as well as society. Fleisher and Reese, two retired professors turned bloggers, aim to help women navigate the unique realities of life after retirement in this day and age. The two approach the topic like the academics they once were—interviewing hundreds of women 'with varied histories who examine their lives critically.' The book collects and categorizes the wisdom of women already in the second half of their lives (one is 100 years old!) to provide inspiration and practical advice on such topics as how to live with adult children, downsize their homes, and embrace galloping technology. . . . Fleisher and Reese successfully provide direction and community for women 60-plus looking to reinvent their later life. (Publishers Weekly)

This remarkable compendium of stories of and by women of a 'certain age' provides enormous insight and wisdom to all of us as we approach retirement. This underlying message is reinforced in every page; "To thine own self be true." (Molly D. Shepard, president and CEO, The Leader's Edge/Leaders By Design)

The New Senior Woman is essential reading for “women of a certain age” who are on the verge on their retirement years. With its lively conversational style, The New Senior Woman is a self-help book for savvy women who typically eschew self-help. Baby Boom women have re-invented every social institution they’ve encountered, and old age is no exception. This book provides women with helpful yet never sanctimonious advice on how to navigate retirement, downsizing one’s home, health woes, cognitive decline, ever-changing parent-child relations, loss, and the other inevitable changes that accompany aging. Equal parts first-person narrative, scholarship, and self-help, The New Senior Woman invites women to face old age with knowledge, confidence, and guarded optimism. (Deborah Carr, professor of Sociology, Rutgers University; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences (2015-18))