"Beautifully written, honest, and insightful, Cole's Old Man Country tackles key questions about aging and manhood, blending profiles and memoir to show us how exceptional men (including the author himself ) change and adapt to old age."
—Louise Aronson, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and author of Elderhood
Today, the average man who lives to 65 can expect to live to 85. What is this new territory like? To find out, I set out on a journey to meet elders who became the focus of my new book, Old Man Country: My Search for Meaning Among the Elders. The journey was long and winding. Actually, it consisted of many journeys over a span of six years that were also filled with work as a Center director and professor, other book projects, struggles to maintain and care for my mother, and with life’s daily joys and sorrows in the decade of my 60s. The book explores how twelve men face (or faced) the challenges of living a good old age. All who appear in this volume are highly accomplished. Some are friends. Some are strangers. Some are famous: Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve under Presidents Reagan and Carter; Denton Cooley, the first surgeon to implant an artificial heart into a human being; Ram Dass, his generation’s foremost American teacher of Eastern Spirituality; and Hugh Downs, veteran TV broadcaster and creator of “The Today Show.”
Old Man Country in the Media
What Men in their 80s Can Teach Us About Aging —The Wall Street Journal
New book by an aging expert on aging itself explores the search for life’s meaning —the Houston Chronicle
The 4 Poignant Questions Old Men Ask Themselves — Forbes Magazine
Stories from Elders —Psychology Today
Thomas Cole’s Old Man Country —The Page 99 Test
Review: Old Man Country — Shelf Awareness
Interview: What Old Men Can Teach Us About Aging — Aging Horizons Bulletin