| Note from the Author | ix |
Book 1 | First Adulthood | |
| Prologue: Oh, Pioneers! | 3 |
| Updating the Passages Concept | |
| What to Do With This Leftover Life? | |
| The Discovery Process | |
| New Cross-Cultural Evidence | |
Part 1 | Whatever Happened to the Life Cycle? | |
I. | Mapping Lives Across Time | 23 |
| Which Generation Are You Traveling With? | |
| World War II Generation | |
| Silent Generation | |
| Vietnam Generation | |
| Me Generation | |
| Endangered Generation | |
| Welcome to Provisional Adulthood | |
| The Good News | |
Part 2 | The Flourishing Forties | |
2. | The Vietnam Generation Hits Middlescence | 57 |
| Who Me, an Adult? | |
| Out of Control | |
3. | Men Redefining Success | 67 |
| Rise of the Nonworking Class | |
| The Double Squeeze | |
| The Pharmaceuticals Salesman, Age 48 | |
| The Auto Worker, Age 46 | |
| A Black Man's Bonus Time, Age 40 | |
| A Wunderkind's Handicap, Age 40 | |
| The Wunderkind Growing Up, Age 47 | |
| The New Midlife Man | |
4. | Out-of-Sight Women | 85 |
| A Woman in Early Midlife Crisis | |
| Catch-40 for Couples | |
| Beyond "Me"--to Another Level of Being | |
5. | The Fantasy of Fertility Forever | 95 |
| Late Babymania | |
| The Great Postponers | |
| The Psychic Fallout | |
| What Do You Mean, My Eggs Are Too Old? | |
| But Susan Sarandon Did It | |
| The Facts on Infertility | |
| So Glad I Didn't Wait | |
| The Race | |
6. | Perpetual Middlescence | 115 |
| Holding the Edge | |
| A Woman Addicted to Success, Age 52 | |
| Frozen in Time | |
| Single Men: What Are You Doing from Five to Nine? | |
| Single Women: Tales from the Naked City | |
Book 2 | Second Adulthood | |
| Prologue: A Brand-New Passage | 137 |
| Decline or Progress? | |
| From Survival to Mastery | |
| The "Little Death" of First Adulthood | |
| Birth of Second Adulthood | |
| The Meaning Crisis | |
| Time to Kill? | |
| Push Toward Authenticity | |
| Aliveness or Stagnation? | |
| The Time Flies Test | |
| Safety or Danger? | |
Part 3 | Passage to the Age of Mastery | |
7. | The Mortality Crisis | 159 |
| Living on the Edge | |
| Little Victories | |
| Composing Your Own Progress Narrative | |
| Peggy's Progress | |
| Guides and Teachings | |
Part 4 | Flaming Fifties: Women | |
8. | Women: Pits to Peak | 179 |
| First, the Terror | |
| The Vanity Crisis | |
| The New Female Pacesetters | |
| Working-Class Women: Finding Faith in Yourself | |
| Surprise! You're Not Getting Older, You're Getting Happier! | |
| Women's Historical Progress Across Time | |
| A Survivor Who Found Passion at 50 | |
9. | Wonder Women Meets Menopause | 199 |
| "I'm Out of Estrogen, and I've Got a Gun" | |
| Phase One: The Perimenopause Panic | |
| Phase Two: Over the Hump | |
| Should I Take Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)? | |
| The Breast Cancer Phobia | |
| The Weight Gain Fallacy | |
| Phase Three: Postmenopause | |
| Call of the Wild Girl | |
10. | From Pleasing to Mastery | 223 |
| On the Privilege of Being 50 | |
| Moving Toward Mastery | |
| Finding One's Own Voice | |
| From Anger to Forgiveness | |
Part 5 | Flaming Fifties: Men | |
II. | The Samson Complex | 243 |
| The Male Vanity Crisis | |
| The Aging Athlete, Age 57 | |
| The Excessed VP, Age 47 | |
| The Sociable Athlete, Age 59 | |
| Macho Men Holding the Line | |
| But My Body is Bulletproof! | |
12. | Fall Guys of the Economic Revolution | 259 |
| Corporate Refugees | |
| The Lifer, Age 53 | |
| The Meant-to-be-President, Age 55 | |
| Psychic Consequences | |
| Angry and Anxious White Males | |
| The New (Hostile) Dependence on Wives | |
| Reality Testing for the Future | |
| The Rehabilitation of the Corporate Refugee | |
| The Company Man as Free Agent, Age 48 | |
13. | The Optimism Surge | 274 |
| From Competing to Connecting | |
| Men's Anguish Over Empty Nest | |
| Father, I Hardly Knew Ye | |
| Reinventing Fatherhood | |
| The Start-Over Dad, Age 59 | |
| The Medlator, Age 48 | |
14. | The Unspeakable Passage: Male Menopause | 287 |
| I'd Rather Have a Talking Frog | |
| The Problem Without a Proper Name | |
| Hard Statistics and Hopeful Science | |
| Sex, Lies, and Scorekeeping | |
| Am I Just Getting Old? | |
| The Mind-Body Link | |
| High-Tech Solutions | |
| High-Technique Solution | |
| How to Restore Vitality and Virility | |
| Beyond Male Menopause | |
15. | Men and Women: The New Geometry of the Sexual Diamond | 318 |
| A Point of Harmony | |
| Brain-Sex Changes | |
| Take Back Your Diamond! | |
| The Crossover Crisis | |
| Secrets of Serene Potency | |
| Bust-to-Boom Banker, Early Fifties | |
| New-Age Electrician, Age 52 | |
| The Save-Your-Life Wife | |
| The Divorce Springboard | |
| Victoria's Real Secret--Sexual Power Surges | |
| Finding Your Passion Without a Man | |
Part 6 | Passage to the Age of Integrity | |
16. | The Serene Sixties | 345 |
| Ready for Prime Time | |
| Growing Brain | |
| The Hunger for Harmony | |
| Special Powers of the Sixties | |
| Permission to Play | |
| The Designer Who Learned to Play at 63 | |
| Self-Confident Survivors | |
| The Wiley Widow, Age 60 | |
| Love Stories of the Sixties | |
| Rekindling Old Flames, Age 77 | |
| Reconciliations | |
17. | Men: Make My Passage | 369 |
| Grand Dads | |
| Retirement: Love it or Leave It? | |
| The Bush Retirement (Non)Plan | |
| The Carters' Retirement Plan | |
| The Winner's Circle | |
| Mr. Hat, the Company Man | |
| Late-Age Entrepreneur | |
| Sources of Well-Being in the Sixties | |
| How Much is Enough? | |
| Old Elephants' Club, Age 65 | |
| Comebacks from Hopelessness | |
| The Cancer Survivor | |
18. | Wisewomen in Training | 394 |
| Dreamer Beyond Dreams | |
| The Wit Network | |
| A Wisewoman Model, Age 60 | |
| Survivor Sex and Extrasexual Passions | |
| Congratulations, You're a New Grandmother! | |
| The New Fly-In Grandmother, Age 56 | |
| Nurturing: The Second Wave | |
| Life and Love Beyond Loss | |
| Caretakers of the World | |
| Master of Divinity at 63 | |
| Looking Ahead | |
| Expanding the Wit Network | |
19. | Two Species of Aging | 417 |
| Choosing How to Age | |
| Renaissance in the Art of Health | |
| Sharpening up for the Sage Seventies and Beyond | |
| Celebratory Centenarians | |
| The Present Never Ages | |
| Acknowledgments | 430 |
| Appendixes | 433 |
I. | Life History Survey | |
II. | Professional Women's and Men's Surveys | |
III. | Family Circle Survey | |
IV. | New Woman Survey | |
V. | Suggested Readings on Menopause | |
| Notes | 451 |
| Index | 475 |