A recurring theme that arises in many discussions within my undergraduate classes is a contemplation on the ways in which their ageing generation may (and in their opinion, will likely) differ from that of those before them on any number of issues: technology, sexuality and relationships, leisure and recreation, and so on. Often speculative in nature, this book offers a lens by which this question could be undertaken on a more rigorous scale, with a framework that considers how the social context layers with individual choices and experiences. Woodspring does this eloquently, interspersing rich description and data with a consideration of the social and historical milieu in question (the 1960s).

Wary as I am of making broad claims based on ‘generation’, Woodspring balances this carefully: ‘It is true that ageing, the last part of the human life span, is a universal experience but, in reality, it is nuanced and in many ways, there are radical differences between older people depending on a myriad of factors from class to culture to historical period’ (p. 2). It is the latter that is taken up here and unpacked, however, through the conceptual and theoretical framework of time, or the temporal dimension. Woodspring usefully differentiates between experienced and representational time, drawing together time-relevant literature from a multi-disciplinary perspective and layering this with the voices and experiences of her postwar-born participants who ‘came of age’ in the 1960s. Interviews with these participants delved into the influence of the 1960s on their lives, their ageing bodies and identities. She thus considers this particular slice of history and culture, and the influential character of a range of social, cultural and medical changes that came to be during that time (i.e. the introduction of the National Health Service and the contraceptive pill; revolutions in music, dance and fashion; the Cuban Missile Crisis, and so on).

At times, the more data-laden chapters (Chapters 4, 6 and 7) could do with more explicit linkages between quotations and the argument being made and/or with relevant literature. The reader is compelled to fill in the blanks, read backwards and forwards, and make these linkages him- or herself. This may suggest that a postgraduate audience (read: trained in interpretive qualitative methodology) could well get more out of Woodspring's analysis, and perhaps understandably, these chapters were not intended to stand alone. Indeed, the manuscript is sufficiently descriptive as a whole that the arguments become clear and compelling.

Chapter 6, ‘The Past and Present Converge’, is, for me, where the book really starts to sing – after covering the topics of time (Chapters 3 and 4), and body and identity (Chapter 5), here Woodspring discusses the influence of embodied time on the ageing post-war cohort. The voices of the participants are forefront, as they describe the influences of the past and the interrelationship between past and present with respect to a wide variety of topics: body image, appearance, biological body change, acceptance, generation and the body, exercise and fitness, body ownership and music. What is demonstrated here and throughout is that while there are similarities, there is still individual experience. And even individual experience is in flux – as it is recalled, retold, reconfigured, reinterpreted, and so on. All of this impacts on how these individuals conceptualise and imagine their futures (Chapter 7). Here, participants speak frankly about their plans alongside their fears and concerns, touching upon topics such as dementia, loss, health and vitality, agency, fulfilment and death. It is these two chapters that I can imagine resonating most with the general ‘baby boomer’ public.

Baby Boomers: Time and Ageing Bodies successfully weaves together literatures on time, body/embodiment and identity, demonstrating how these concepts are interrelated and interact on multiple levels to impact on perceptions and experiences. ‘Aging…’, Woodspring notes, ‘…is a meeting place of time and body … Identities develop through the blending of embodied experience, in memory, the present, and through future imaginings’ (p. 169). Via this exploration, then, a more sophisticated understanding of the ageing process emerges, one that allows a more nuanced and layered view of the construction and meaning of old age.