Many older people, indeed the majority, have many years of relatively good health after the usual retirement age. Contrary to widely accepted stereotypes, evidence indicates that those who wish to use their skills and abilities for productive contributions may encounter significant barriers.

Bass, Caro, and Chen and the experts who contributed to the volume provide an original reassessment of the current options available to older people. The authors argue that polices, practices, and societal messages help determine what choices are realistically open to older individuals. The attitudes and policies of family, workplace, and government as well as those of educational and religious institutions all contribute to defining what opportunities really are available for older people. The authors show, too, that considerations of gender and ethnicity are powerful in their impact on what those in the later years of life may or may not do. Although leisure is attractive to many in their elder years, the authors stress that it is but one of the number of choices that should be available. Employment, volunteering, and other new productive roles should not be denied to those who want to continue them and who, in the process, enrich their own and society's well-being. The authors provide authoritative analysis and new perspectives on aging.

A proper examination of the world political situation makes it necessary to consider the fact of the increasing importance of Commu nist China in world affairs. It seems that this big and ancient country expects to be considered not only as the most important country of Asia, not to say of the communist world, but as one of the great powers of the second half of this century. Being one of the largest countries in the world, with a larger popu lation than that of the United States and the Soviet Union combined (the two recognized powers of this era), China plays a significant role in world affairs at the same time that she tries to challenge the leader ship of communism. As the years have passed and Communist China has been kept out of the United Nations, her attitude has changed to such a point that one fears the possibility of her forming a new organi zation that may evolve in rivalry with the work of the United Nations. Therefore, there is a deservedly great concern about the way China conducts her international policy. Under these circumstances, it goes without saying that it is important to ascertain the kind of political thought that has motivated Commu nist leaders in China, and the ultimate goal of their revolutionary movement, which has been for some time now responsible for dangerous situations in the Far East and in other areas of the world.

Many older people, indeed the majority, have many years of relatively good health after the usual retirement age. Contrary to widely accepted stereotypes, evidence indicates that those who wish to use their skills and abilities for productive contributions may encounter significant barriers.

Bass, Caro, and Chen and the experts who contributed to the volume provide an original reassessment of the current options available to older people. The authors argue that polices, practices, and societal messages help determine what choices are realistically open to older individuals. The attitudes and policies of family, workplace, and government as well as those of educational and religious institutions all contribute to defining what opportunities really are available for older people. The authors show, too, that considerations of gender and ethnicity are powerful in their impact on what those in the later years of life may or may not do. Although leisure is attractive to many in their elder years, the authors stress that it is but one of the number of choices that should be available. Employment, volunteering, and other new productive roles should not be denied to those who want to continue them and who, in the process, enrich their own and society's well-being. The authors provide authoritative analysis and new perspectives on aging.