A PLACE CALLED
CANTERBURY
Tales of the New Old Age in America
Dudley Clendinen
 
   


“A funny, insightful view of the new old age.  This often hilarious, sometimes very sad, observation on old age is always deeply respectful of the men and women experiencing it and their dedicated caretakers.  This is a wise and telling book.”

—Cokie Roberts, NPR and ABC News Analyst and author of

We Are Our Mother’s Daughters

"If you've ever had a mother, you will love this book."

—Roy Blount Jr., author of Long Time Leaving:

Dispatches from Up South

“Clendinen has written a modern masterpiece. It isn’t about old age.  It’s about all of us, a brilliant celebration of what it means to be a human being. I laughed and wept and was changed by reading A PLACE CALLED CANTERBURY .  It is a gift to be shared, this wonderful, wonderful book.”

— Linda Ellerbee, NBC and Nickelodeon journalist and author

 “ Canterbury ’s walls rock with geriatrics who live every moment to its fullest.  Through it all, the elegance and humor of a generation who laughed and loved through a depression and a great war will have you laughing and crying. 

You will love every morsel of the Canterbury tales.”

-- Nathalie Dupree, PBS and Food Network cooking host and cookbook author

****

In 1994, New York Times writer Dudley Clendinen’s mother followed the example of her generational compatriots: she sold her home and moved into an all-amenities-included geriatric apartment building: Canterbury Tower in Tampa Bay .  Wealthy, poor, Christian, Jewish, widowed, married—all of Canterbury ’s residents had come together, at the average age of 86, in search of a last place to live and die. 

 Clendinen’s curiosity about this final phase of human life in the 21st century led him to spend 400 days and nights living at Canterbury , during which he became intimately involved in the lives of its residents and staff.  With A PLACE CALLED CANTERBURY (Viking; On-sale: May 5, 2008), Clendinen offers a beautifully written, hilarious and deeply moving look at this New Old Age in America . 

 The last challenge to the generation of the Great Depression and World War II is longevity—none of them expected to live so long, and their baby boomer children weren’t prepared to take so much responsibility for parents who seem to live forever, collecting ailments and shedding assets as they go.  But places like Canterbury Tower , more adult camps than retirement homes, allow residents to live out their remaining time on their own terms. 

 Peopled by brave, daffy, memorable characters determined to grow old with dignity, A PLACE CALLED CANTERBURY is at once a delightful soap opera and a poignant chronicle of the last years of the Greatest Generation.  It is an essential read for anyone with aging parents and anyone wondering what his or her own old age will look like.

About the Author

DUDLEY CLENDINEN is a former national reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times.  He is editor of a book of essays, The Prevailing South, and author of the text for a book of photographs, Homeless in America .  He is coauthor of Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America .  He lives in Baltimore , MD.