The Aging of Aquarius
The Hippies of the 60s in Their 60s and Beyond

Presents the first study on aging hippies and offers many new insights about wellbeing in later life.

Galit Nimrod (Author)

9781009304078, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 December 2022

270 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.58 kg

'This is book worth reading for those engaged in aged care and for readers of JAGS, who seek historical and anthropological indicators of how the care of older persons evolves under varied circumstances.' Michael Gordon, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS)

There is no group of individuals more iconic of 1960s counterculture than the hippies – the long-haired, colorfully dressed youth who rebelled against mainstream societal values, preached and practiced love and peace, and generally sought more meaningful and authentic lives. These 'flower children' are now over sixty and comprise a significant part of the older population in the United States. While some hippies rejoined mainstream American society as they grew older, others still maintain the hippie ideology and lifestyle. This book is the first to explore the aging experience of older hippies by examining aspects related to identity, generativity, daily activities, spirituality, community, end-of-life care, and wellbeing. Based on 40 in-depth interviews with lifelong, returning, and past residents of The Farm, an intentional community in Tennessee that was founded in 1971 and still exists today, insights into the subculture of aging hippies and their keys to wellbeing are shared.

1. Introduction
2. The hippies
3. The Farm
4. Once a hippie, always a hippie
5. Still changing the world
6. Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll?
7. The aging of the New Agers
8. Lifelong community
9. Alternative end of life
10. Aging differently
Appendix
Endnotes
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Geriatric medicine [MJX], Psychology of ageing [JMD], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Sociology [JHB]