American Eldercide

"Of the Americans who have died of COVID-19, 20% have been elderly people residing in nursing facilities--even though they make up less than a percent of the overall US population. Throughout the pandemic, several argued that there was nothing to be done about the people dying in these facilities; they felt that, given the higher likelihood of serious disease and death among that population, younger, able-bodied, and more economically productive members of society should be prioritized instead. Meanwhile, elderly folks continued to be neglected. As Margaret Morganroth Gullette shows, nothing about this tragedy was inevitable. Gullette, an activist and scholar, argues that it was our collective indifference, fueled by ageism, that killed our elderly population, compounded by our fear of and disgust toward aging and our cultural enshrinement of youth-based decisions about life-saving care, even before sufficient data was available. Walking us through the decisions that lead to such discrimination, revealing how governments and media reinforced ageist biases, and collecting the ignored voices of the elderly, Gullette helps us understand the makings of what she powerfully calls an "eldercide." A chronicle of how ageism turned lethal, this book is an act of remembrance and a call to action that aims to prevent a similar outcome in the next pandemic"--