“Emily K. Abel’s strategic use of memoir is a tour de force allowing those with dementia to reclaim the social narrative about them. When dementia is seen as a disability, not listening to those living with it is a human rights violation. A much-needed counter narrative to the narrow biomedical framing – the book disrupts misconceptions that a life with dementia is not worth living. In fact, a picture of meaningful life with dementia enters our cultural imagination. A must read for anyone newly diagnosed, those who love someone recently diagnosed, and all of us as we ourselves age.” - Renée L. Beard, author of Living with Alzheimer’s: Managing Memory Loss, Identity and Illness

“Abel provides a clear-eyed, unflinching analysis of topics that are too often shrouded in sentimental euphemism. This book should be required reading for anyone concerned with dementia and dementia care.” - Jesse Ballenger, author of Self, Senility and Alzheimer’s Disease in Modern America: A History

Emily K. Abel is Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She is the author of many books. The most recent are Elder Care in Crisis: How the Social Safety Net Fails Families and Gluten Free for Life: Celiac Disease, Medical Recognition, and the Food Industry, both published by NYU Press. In 2024 she received the Genevieve Miller Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for the History of Medicine.

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