The study of ageing is continuing to increase rapidly across multiple disciplines. Consequently students, academics, professionals and policy makers need texts on the latest research, theory, policy and practice developments in the field. With new areas of interest in mid- and later life opening up, the series bridges the gaps in the literature as well as providing cutting-edge debate on new and traditional areas of ageing within a lifecourse perspective. Taking this approach, the Ageing and the Lifecourse series addresses ‘ageing’ (rather than gerontology or ‘old age’), providing coverage of mid- as well as later life; it promotes a critical perspective and focuses on the social, rather than the medical, aspects of ageing.

Ricca Edmondson and Hans-Joachim von Kondratowitz together with the authors in this edited book address these issues in an original and refreshing way. Valuing older people: A humanist approach to ageing provides us with stimulating insights into the international debates, issues and challenges around the diversity of ageing, the norms and values practised by older people, their creativity and wisdom and the meaning they attach to life. The book addresses the centrality of the lifecourse, both in its importance of looking at and valuing people's lives and in its contribution to the study of critical gerontology.

The editors comment that concepts and languages concerning older people and ageing are in stark need of revision; this book does just that by providing new themes for exploration under a humanistic gerontology and by combining theoretical debate and empirical data with the voices of older people. The book is an original contribution, enhancing the limited material in humanistic gerontology, particularly outside North America. It will provide a good resource for undergraduates as well as postgraduates and, in particular, professionals working with older people.