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The author contends that the film and television series director Alfred Hitchcock was religious during the last years of his life, relying on his personal experiences with him.

Examines the problems that the United States, Europe, and richer Asian nations are facing in an era of aging populations. Issue of sustaining a long-term Social Security system; Increased work vacancies as more people retire and fewer babies are born; The effect that cultural and social attitudes toward leisure, family, old age and status have on policymaking; The idea that a hard-earned, dignified and pleasurable retirement is a right.

Examines how rapid growth in the number of centenarians in the United States is forcing society to reexamine what it believes about aging. Research indicating that old age can be more productive and independent than previously believed; View that the retirement age of 65 may be too early; How increasing health and longer productivity of the elderly may offset some of the economic burden that planners have assumed for elderly America. INSET: Freda Fielder's 'secret' to a long life.

Offers views from psychologist Mary Pipher on the perspective that older people have on the world. Why they honor different values; How older people consider self-sacrifice; Pipher's book `Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders.'

Reports on the health care given to the elderly in the United States. Figures regarding the aged receiving necessary medication and needed treatment; The examples of pain relief, asthma and cancer treatment; The difficulty with medication and the elderly, including side effects and adverse drug reactions with multiple drugs; Other considerations.

Focuses on changing attitudes toward senior citizens in the United States. How the US is facing an unprecedented boom in the number of citizens over the age of 65; Statistics on the number of elderly in the US; Why elders are becoming more respected; Seniors who are refusing to accept stereotypes; How much of the discussion about aging focuses on words like successful and productive.

Discusses the need to change society's perception of old age. Americans' fear of aging and things related to it; Finding single universally accepted term to encompass various ways of being old; Individual diversity that increases with age; Phrases of choice in the gerontology trade; List of alternative words to use when describing senior citizens.