Chasing Independence — Book Conversation with Guillermina Altomonte

Guillermina Altomonte's new book, Chasing Independence: Growing Old in the Shadow of an American Ideal (Princeton University Press, 2026), interrogates the widely held idea that independence should be the metric of aging well. (You can get 30% off your copy if you buy it through the PUP website and use the code P329 when you check out.) Professor Altomonte will be in conversation with Duke historian James Chappel, whose book Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age (Basic Books, 2024), explores how old age emerged as a distinct phase of life in the United States during the post-World War II period.

Please join us for this hybrid event 12-1:30 EDT (UTC+4), Friday 30 October at the Revaluing Care Lab in the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University. For those who can join us in person, a light lunch will be served. Zoom attendees will have translated captioning available.