Leisureville: Adventures in a World Without Children
By (Author) Andrew D. Blechman
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
14th October 2009
First Trade Paper Edition
United States
General
Non Fiction
Coping with / advice about ageing
646.79
Paperback
256
Width 139mm, Height 209mm
269g
When his next-door neighbors in a quaint New England town suddenly pick up and move to a gated retired community in Florida called The Villages, Andrew Blechman is astonished by their stories, so he goes to investigate. Larger than Manhattan, with a golf course for every day of the month, two downtowns, its own newspaper, radio, and TV station, The Villages is a city of nearly one hundred thousand (and growing) missing only one thing: children.
In the critically acclaimed Leisureville, Blechman delves into life in the senior utopia, offering a hilarious firsthand report on everything from ersatz nostalgia to the residents surprisingly active sex life. But this is more than just a romp through a retirement paradise; Blechman traces the history of the age-segregated retirement phenomenon, and travels to Arizona to show what has happened to the pioneering developments after decades of segregation. A fascinating blend of serious history, social commentary, and hilarious, engaging reportage, Leisureville is an important book on a major, underreported trend.