One nation under AARP : the fight over medicare, social security, and America's future /

Lynch (government, Claremont McKenna Coll.; The Diversity Machine) offers an engaging, insightful portrait of America's retiring baby boomers and the way they are changing the politics of aging. He helpfully sets those issues within the framework of America's "Great Recession" and the efforts of the AARP, the nation's largest political lobby, to transform its mission and image from that of an organization concerned simply with senior citizens' issues to that of a large services company building a "generational compact." Lynch showcases the numbers but contextualizes them with historical analysis and a careful exploration of AARP's leadership and methods. He explores the growth of the Tea Party movement as well, speculating that when it comes to entitlement reform, there are limits on how limited its aging followers want the government to be. VERDICT Readers interested in political science and the politics of entitlement will find this a helpful supplement to recent books such as Jacob Hacker's The Great Risk Shift.-Aaron Klink, Duke Univ., Durham, NC (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.