Nobody's Burden: Lessons on Old Age from the Great Depression is the first book-length study of the experience of old-age during the Great Depression. Part history, part social critique, the contributors rely on archival research, social history, narrative study and theoretical analysis to argue that Americans today, as in the past, need to rethink old-age policy and accept their shared responsibility for elder care. A must read for historians, gerontologists, and social workers.

Chapter 1: Studying the 'Burden' of Age: The Work of the Hannan Archival Research Group
Part 2 Part I: The Burden of Age in the Great Depression
Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Public Response to the Needs of Old People
Chapter 4 Chapter 3: Private Response to the Needs of Old People
Part 5 Part II: This Old Man and That Old Woman
Chapter 6 Client Sketches
Part 7 Part III: Old Age in Hard Times
Chapter 8 Chapter 4: The Multiple Roles of Social Workers in the Great Depression
Chapter 9 Chapter 5: Resisting Dependence and Burden: On Refusing to Become a 'Little Old Lady'
Chapter 10 Chapter 6: Privileged but Pensioned? How Two Formerly Well-Off Women Experienced Receiving Aid
Chapter 11 Chapter 7: What is Held Dear: Personhood and Material Culture in Old Age
Chapter 12 Chapter 8: Race, Class, Gender and the Social Construction of 'Burden' in Old Age
Chapter 13 Chapter 9: The Haunting Fear: Narrative Burdens in the Great Depression
Part 14 Part IV: Rethinking the 'Burden' of Age
Chapter 15 Chapter 10: Reflections on Ageism: Perspective of a Septuagenarianon the Avoidance of Burdenhood
Chapter 16 Chapter 11: The Continuing Struggle for Old-Age Security
Chapter 17 Chapter 12: Toward a Future When We Truly Care for Old People
Chapter 18 Afterword: From Charity to Care

Ruth E. Ray is professor of English/liberal arts at Wayne State University. Toni Calasanti is professor of sociology at Virginia Tech.