Description:
Photojournalist Cathleen Rountree (On Women Turning 40 and On Women Turning 50) has made a cottage industry out of chronicling women who've reached a significant age. The 20 distinguished women she chose for this collection have all had six decades to hone skills and flout convention. Some, like Marian Woodman, a Jungian analyst in Canada, have found ways to simplify life. A few seem intent on embroidering it. British novelist Fay Weldon careens through romance, shoes, feminism, death, and the choice to embrace discontent in her comments, with great gusts of common sense and humor. "Stop trying to grow when it's obvious there's no potential for growth there," she advises those intent on finding fulfillment. Still others insist that 60 is an age to embrace change. Performance artist Terry Sendgraff learned to walk on stilts at 57 and now uses her crossbred brand of dance and circus acrobatics to teach people how to fully embrace themselves. Writer Ursula K. LeGuin, dancer Luly Santiago, and anthropologist Jane Goodall are also among the diverse subjects of Rountree's interviews. --Francesca Coltrera
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