Early modern perceptions of old age are dominated by medicine’s inability to treat the diseases associated with growing old. This book takes a thematic look at the historical roots of the debate surrounding this process. Though very much a medically-oriented study, this history also covers material of literary, religious and legal derivation. Schäfer examines over 160 Latin texts from all over Europe, as well as many in the vernacular – including some from America – to challenge medical conceptions of old age during the early modern period.
This is a translated and revised version of Alter und Krankheit in der Frühen Neuzeit: Der ärztliche Blick auf die letzte Lebensphase (Campus, 2004).

"'The strength of this book is in its impressive synthesis of a very broad topic and here it makes a very valuable contribution to the already crowded historiography of old age.'"