Description: Hartog tells the heartbreaking stories of how families fought over the work of caring for the elderly, and its compensation, in a time before pensions, Social Security, and nursing homes filled this gap. As an explosive economy drew the young away from home, we see how the elderly used promises of inheritance to keep children at their side.
Brief description: Hendrik Hartog is Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor in the History of American Law and Liberty at Princeton University.
Review Quotes: With empathy and captivating style, Hartog, a superb historian, offers a memorable analysis of changing family struggles over inheritance and care.--Viviana A. Zelizer, author of Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy