A good old age

Two books on aging and caregiving point out the problems with American old age and how we might improve it.

Baby boomers, who used not to trust anyone over 30 and worried about being needed at 64, are about to turn 65 in record numbers. In 2011, the oldest members of the post–World War II generation will hit the traditional age for retirement. And by 2030 — not so terribly far away — they'll create a demographic bulge of some 70 million over-65ers, or roughly one in every five Americans.