The Forgotten Aged: Ethnic, Psychiatric, and Social Minorities.

As the graying of society becomes an ever-apparent reality, it is necessary to look beyond the visible and often-reported issues of aging to those populations and problems that tend to escape our attention. In this small text, a wealth of information has been compiled dealing with such concerns as the validity of social and mental testing of minority populations, and the value of nontraditional support systems with Alzheimer "elderly orphans." The chapter on therapeutic issues as they apply to lesbian and gay elders provides valuable insight to the needs as well as the strengths of this group. Two segments view the elderly developmentally disabled population from the viewpoint of parent caregivers and health care professionals providing services. A final presentation deals with the rural elderly and provides applications that could be useful to other groups of the forgotten aged.

The organization of the text is concise and clear, with each study preceded with an introduction by the editor. This brief introductory paragraph summarizes the content of each presentation. It would be efficient to have the content of the book incorporated into a larger, holistic reference text on the elderly to ensure attention be directed to the included groups. It would, however, be a disservice if the content became lost or abbreviated.

A valuable adjunct to the libraries of faculty members, clinicians, or students, The Forgotten Aged is a book to be remembered.

Dr Toot is director of the physical therapy department and is acting director of the School of Health Sciences.