Roger Sanjek . Gray Panthers . Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press . 2009 . Pp. xix, 298. $59.95.

Abstract

Roger Sanjek's book is a personal—and heartfelt—memoir of the activities and philosophy of the Gray Panthers, a political, economic, and social justice advocacy group that has often focused on elderly issues from its formation to the present. In 1980, as a young man, Sanjek joined the organization and quickly became part of its leadership structure. From 1982 to 1987, he chaired the New York City chapter and was elected to the National Steering Committee in 1981—a position from which he later resigned due to a dispute between national and network factions. As such, and as an anthropologist by training, he uses this study to detail the issues, approaches, and conflicts that led to the creation of the organization and its evolution over two decades. As Sanjek makes clear, the key figure in shaping the organization and its social agenda was Maggie Kuhn. According to her vision, the Gray Panthers were not to be another senior citizen action group or a single‐issue organization but rather a grass‐roots association of “youth and age in action.” Noting that Kuhn argued that “older people are people, they're not a special breed apart,” Sanjek describes how she worked to tie the organization to key contemporary social issues and structure it around strong intergenerational relationships. As a result, although the Gray Panthers focused on matters such as mandatory retirement, nursing homes, hearing aids, and ageist views of the old in the media, they embedded these concerns within a broader agenda that addressed the Vietnam War, the lack of a national medical health system, and the racist and sexist nature of American society.