" Chasing Independence is insightful and nuanced, deep and theoretically sophisticated, and yet it maintains accessibility and readability throughout. This book is a milestone in the social studies of aging; it could very well be the best ethnographic account to date of aging in the aftermath of deinstitutionalization in the United States."-- Roi Livne, author of Values at the End of Life: The Logic of Palliative Care "With remarkable clarity and depth, Altomonte shows how the moral ideal of independence shapes healthcare policies, care practices, and identity, obscuring the realities of dependence among older adults aging in place. Chasing Independence is a sophisticated and compelling contribution to the sociology of aging."-- Jason Rodriquez, author of Labors of Love: Nursing Homes and the Structures of Care Work "Altomonte has written an important and deeply human contribution to the sociology of valuation, showing that older Americans yearn to meet the dominant moral imperative of independence, although aging unavoidably makes us vulnerable, constrained, and less self-reliant. I was enriched by it, and readers will be as well."-- Michèle Lamont , author of Seeing Others: How to Redefine Worth in a Divided World "There's a lovely subtlety at work in this rich ethnographic account of the elderly and their caregivers in a post-acute care facility for those recovering from surgery or other temporary health problems. A keen observer of contradiction and irony, Altomonte argues that independence is a cultural project, with diffuse symbolic meanings.

Chasing Independence decries just how few supports are provided to help people's quest for independence, while also lamenting the cultural inability to acknowledge and accept dependence as part of an honorable path through life. But most of all, readers will remember the older people themselves--feisty, humorous, despairing, they are caught in the grip of a moral project with profound consequences for their status as people."-- Allison Pugh, author of The Last Human Job: Seeing Each Other in an Age of Automation.