(Studies on Successful Midlife Development.) Edited by Orville Gilbert Brim, Carol D. Ryff, and Ronald C. Kessler. 687 pp. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2004. $42. ISBN 0-226-07475-7.
Despite the past century's fascination with measuring everyfacet of life, little is known about the "middle years." Afterall, living into middle age is a relatively recent phenomenonin human history. A white man born in 1900 in the United Stateshad an average life expectancy of 48 years, and a white womancould hope to see 51 years. Consequently, much of the populationeither never reached or did not remain long in the developmentalphase that we would now characterize as midlife. Although thepressing nature of age-related ill health precipitated a welcomeand much-needed boom in information . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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