pt. I: Changing perceptions of the aged's roles in nineteenth-century America -- The usefulness of old age -- Variations on a theme -- The obsolescence of old age -- pt. II: The demographic and socioeconomic dimensions of old age -- The rhetoric and realities of growing old diverge in nineteenth-century America -- Old age becomes "modern" in twentieth-century America -- pt. III: Contemporary old age in historical perspective -- Old age becomes a national problem -- Social Security: A novel solution for the problem of America's aged -- Old age in the United States since Social Security.