Breaking the Watch: The Meanings of Retirement in America »

The topic of retirement becomes increasingly compelling as the U.S. population ages. It's easy to find books about how to plan financially for those years after careers end, but Breaking the Watch focuses on the many ways of creating a life, not just making a living, as a retired person.

This book follows women and men from a rural American community as they approach and experience the first years of retirement. Joel Savishinsky focuses on the efforts people make to find meaning in a stage of life American culture often views in a confused or disdainful way.

In conversations and stories, 13 men and 13 women demonstrate a deep commitment to defining their own retirement. They bring to their mature years a diversity of backgrounds, interests, and responsibilities. They include former teachers, librarians, doctors, farmers, lawyers, bankers, mail carriers, and secretaries. Some are married, others divorced or single; many have children and grandchildren, but some have neither. Their finances run the gamut from the modest to the munificent, while their health ranges from robust to disabled.

From an examination of the "rites of passage" that marked their exit from full-time work, Breaking the Watch moves on to consider how to plan appropriately for retirement; renegotiate ties to friends, family, and community; and create a sense of passion—be it for t'ai chi, travel, painting, or politics—that will drive a new sense of purpose. These intimate glimpses into real lives allow a rare understanding of the retirement process.

About the Author:
Joel S. Savishinsky is Charles A. Dana Professor in the Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology and the Gerontology Institute at Ithaca College. He is the author of several books, including The Ends of Time: Life and Work in a Nursing Home, winner of the Gerontological Society of America's Kalish Award for Innovative Publishing.

Publishers Weekly

Bringing his considerable research skills and experience with other projects on aging to bear on this essentially anecdotal study, Savishinsky (The Ends of Time: Life and Work in a Nursing Home) relates his findings after extensive conversations and interviews with 26 recent retirees (all of them white and middle class) in a small upper New York State community called "Shelby." Nudged into early retirement, former postal worker Nate Rumsfeld found that he and his wife could meet their financial obligations just on his pension and her job as a receptionist. After a brief "honeymoon period," he endured an unanticipated stretch of worry and stress that disturbed his marriage until he was able to occupy himself with part-time employment. On the other hand, 67-year-old Alic Armani, recently divorced from an alcoholic husband, finally was free to pursue the painting career she had dreamed of when she was a young art student after she retired from her job as director of a social service agency. Although his subjects had unique reactions to retiring, Savishinsky does draw some tentative lessons in this quiet study, which is not definitive or wide-ranging enough to appeal to a wide audience. Among other unsurprising conclusions, he believes that those considering retirement should think carefully about it, leave their jobs on a good note and rediscover the passionate interests they may not have had time for during their working lives. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.