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A conversation with James Chappel, author of 'Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age'

James Chappel photo and book cover image
photo by Gary Chappel
James Chappel

What’s your vision of how you’ll spend your “golden years”? While the specifics differ from person to person, there may be something distinctly American about our society’s framing of aging, how our expectations around aging have evolved, and how that vision is being reimagined in the current economic and social landscape.

From the social movements underpinning Social Security and Medicare to the hit TV show "The Golden Girls," James Chappel takes Due South on a journey through American aging, and what the future of aging in our country might look like. His new book is Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age.

Guest

James Chappel, Gilhuly Family Associate Professor of History at Duke University and author of Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age

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Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.