Safeguarding Social Security for Future Generations

"This book provides a unique blend of historical scholarship about the origins and development of Social Security and practical suggestions for how Social Security might be reformed to meet its present challenges. The scholarship is impeccable throughout. The author has a strong grasp over the materials related to the history of Social Security and utilizes a very wide range of the philosophical and ethical writing on the subject. Andy Achenbaum is the leading historian of old age, and this book only solidifies his reputation. I have no doubt that the book would be useful to students in such fields as social work, gerontology, public policy and history."

Edward Berkowitz, George Washington University

"Andrew Achenbaum is arguably the most important historian of later life in America we have ever known. With Safeguarding Social Security for Future Generations he offers a framework for maintaining the value and vitality of what is arguably the most important social policy innovation we’ve ever enacted. In the process he’s done something just as important; provided a model for "pragmatic, transgenerational" understanding, cooperation, and action, one that couldn’t be more timely as this country enters a period of unprecedented age diversity. Buy this book, read it carefully, and use it as a roadmap for creating a better future for all generations."

Marc Freedman, Founder, Encore.org, and author, How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting The Generations