Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Acknowledgments V
3. Contents VII
4. 1 Introduction 1
5. 2 Centenarians’ Autobiographies between Life Sciences and Life Writing 38
6. 3 Crossing the “Finish Line”: Celebrating the Centenarian’s 100th Birthday 64
7. 4 Recruiting the Centenarian: Of Willing and Unwilling Subjects 87
8. 5 Centenarians’ Autobiographies as Advice Literature 115
9. 6 The Role of Death and Dying in Centenarians’ Autobiographies 156
10. 7 Earning Citizenship in the Country of Extreme Old Age 167
11. 8 Centenarians’ Autobiographies as Ethnographies of Extreme Old Age 198
12. 9 “The Elephant in the Room”: The (In)visibility of the Co-Author in Centenarians’ Autobiographies 248
13. 10 Conclusion: Centenarians’ Autobiographies as Master Narratives of Aging? 291
14. Works Cited 309
15. Index 319