That Vague, Crepuscular Time When Youth Has Passed: What Is It?

‘In Our Prime: The Invention of Middle Age,’ by Patricia Cohen

By GAIL SHEEHY - New York Times - Published: February 1, 2012

If middle age is truly the prime of life, as posited by Patricia Cohen (left - Fred.R.Conrad), the author of “In Our Prime,” then why do so many Americans go to such lengths to deny they belong to that club? When Ms. Cohen was doing her research, she tells us, the first question her subjects nervously asked was “When is middle age?”

Ms. Cohen, a reporter for The New York Times, sees it as “floating somewhere between 40 and 64.” Her book is a fascinating biography of the idea of middle age, “a story we tell about ourselves.” Today, more than ever, that story romanticizes the idea that the middle-aged wield enormous power while it also fetishizes the attributes of youth.

She contends that middle age is a “cultural fiction,” an elastic concept reinterpreted by every generation. Academics are already defining the years from 55 to 75 as a distinct category, with labels like “encore generation,” “third age,” or “midcourse.” 

Full story at the New York Times .

IN OUR PRIME -The Invention of Middle Age

By Patricia Cohen - Illustrated. 306 pages. Scribner. $25.