"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'

Dudley Clendinen will read passages from his new book, A Place Called Canterbury: Tales of the New Old Age in America, on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m. at the National Academies' Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W. The event is free; a photo ID is required for admittance.

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, the 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…