Gerontocracy in America - by Samuel Moyn (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A leading social critic identifies our least-discussed major crisis, and sets out to solve it.

As Americans debate President Biden's infirmities and President Trump's erratic behavior, we've neglected the bigger problem before us: a massive transfer of power and wealth to the oldest among us, and the curtailment of the prospects of the young. In Gerontocracy in America, the historian and social critic Samuel Moyn offers a piercing diagnosis of our age divide and its consequences. Even apart from the presidency, in legislatures, businesses, and the courts, the average leader's age has risen dramatically. The elderly predominantly fund campaigns and dominate their agendas, often with the intent to block any challenge to their status. The tax code is rigged on their behalf, as is an economy geared to sheltering financial and housing assets. The United States was founded on the promise of generational renovation but has become an increasingly febrile country of old men.

But it doesn't need to be this way. With understanding and wit, Moyn shows how elder power can be dismantled. With strong safety nets in place, mandatory retirement ages can be established. The early transfer of assets between generations could be encouraged and young voters can be granted more voice. In such a world, the elderly themselves would be freed from power games to confront the existential opportunities of aging, while the young would find their path to starting out in life unblocked at last.

Review Quotes

"Samuel Moyn argues in his powerful new book . . . that the US leads the world in wealth and income inequality due to age . . . arresting . . .[and] entirely convincing that something will have to give... [This] book is an antidote to the routine claim that modern democracies are already taxed to the limit."
-- David Runciman, London Review of Books

"[Gerontocracy in America] isn't just about greedy old codgers hanging on to the country's wealth, but also a nation in which the social compact is no longer built for purpose . . . fact-filled and straightforward; Gerontocracy in America . . . surprise[s] us with the philosophical . . . Perhaps if we took on the existential issues of mortality and the meaning of life more directly, we would, as a society, find better ways to live, die and share the wealth."
-- Rana Foroohar, Financial Times

"Samuel Moyn describes how [instead of] a failure to treat the old with dignity and grace . . . the ethos of endlessly fighting the inevitable has manifested itself as a society where the old refuse to give up their accumulated power, money, position, and privilege. . . .Moyn is an unusually empathetic and typically gentle writer, which is why I was a bit surprised that Gerontocracy is, without a doubt, his angriest book. He is unusually willing to describe the elder grip on power as a symptom of fabulist selfishness on their part--an unwillingness to admit you had your time and it is now the next generation's turn. But he's also sensitive enough to understand that these pathologies don't come out of nowhere."
--Matt McManus, The Illiberalism Studies Program

"With his usual (and also unusual) blend of dazzling knowledge, intellectual courage, and clear, forceful prose, Samuel Moyn has taken on one of our most urgent issues: the hoarding of resources by the elite elderly. As a member of the group he is targeting, I was fully persuaded by his argument that we need to reinstate retirement ages and reimagine old age as a time to stop heedlessly clinging to what one has."
--Nicholas Lemann, author of Transaction Man

"Gerontocracy in America is an arresting and essential book--both for the millions already frustrated by our elderly leadership class and for those who ought to be. Samuel Moyn's work should inform our debates about age and power in America moving forward."
--Osita Nwanevu, author of The Right of the People

"This book is both existentially compelling and politically urgent. With brilliant erudition and careful arguments, Samuel Moyn makes clear why both our individual and collective futures are at stake in how we reckon with the vulnerabilities of old age. Whether you are shaping public policy, caring for a loved one in decline, or thinking about how to deal with your own retirement and impending death, this book can change your life and change our society for the better."
--Martin Hägglund, author of This Life

"Youth has been called the oldest American fixation. But these days the generational tables are turned. From wealth, mobility, and housing to political power, this is a country for old men and women. And a country that stacks the deck against young people gives up on the future. Samuel Moyn makes a powerful case that this is just what the United States is doing, and that we need to change course and build a more equitable compact among the generations and between the present and the future."
--Jedediah Purdy, author of Two Cheers for Politics and After Nature

"With his characteristic knowledge and wit, Moyn conjures an array of proposals to address the era of gerontocracy. You don't have to agree with all his proposals to recognize that Moyn has struck the first blow in what is likely to become one of the major battles of our time."
--Richard Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law and codirector of the Democracy Project, New York University School of Law

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