First published 2016
Michael Kinsley guides his fellow baby boomers toward life's final chapter. The Vanity Fair columnist uses his personal struggle with Parkinson's disease as a lens to examine what matters when the end approaches. He asks whether the boomer generation focused on accumulating possessions or transforming society. He wonders if keeping your mental faculties intact matters most, or if only your lasting reputation counts. Kinsley positions himself as an advance scout, experiencing in his fifties what healthy boomers will face decades later. Through a collection of essays, he tackles the questions everyone must eventually answer about meaning, legacy, and mortality. The book combines generational analysis with personal memoir. Kinsley finds humor in his circumstances, arguing that misfortune should at least prove interesting. His Parkinson's diagnosis meets that standard. The result offers both an evaluation of an entire generation and one man's surprisingly upbeat account of approaching life's finish line.
Genres: biography-memoir, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, upbeat
Tropes: generational-analysis, personal-memoir
Period: 21st-century
160 pages · Hardcover · Crown