Carol Levine directs the United Hospital Fund's Families and Health Care Project. She is a former editor of the Hastings Center Report. In 1993 she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for her work in AIDS policy and ethics. She edited Always On Call: When Illness Turns Families into Caregivers (2nd edition, Vanderbilt University Press, 2004).

• IntroductionCarol LevinePart I Children of Aging ParentsDiem PerdidiJulie OtsukaWhosoever: The Language of Mothers and SonsRick MoodyThe Third DumpsterGish JenWaterLi-Young LeeLuckyTony HoaglandFathers and SonsDavid MasonYesterdayW. S. MerwinOde to MeaningRobert PinskyBuckdancer's ChoiceJames DickeyWhere the Groceries WentRaymond CarverPart II Husbands and WivesMrs. Cassidy's Last YearMary GordonWe Are Nighttime TravelersEthan CaninThe Ship PoundingDonald HallThe Sick WifeJane KenyonAlzheimer's: The WifeAlzheimer's: The HusbandC. K. WilliamsThe Bear Came Over the MountainAlice MunroThoreau's LaundryAnn HarlemanThe YawnRachel HadasMrs. DumptyVisiting Hours Are OverChana BlochHe Read to HerAnne BrashlerPart III Parents and Sick ChildrenHow to WinRosellen BrownPeople Like That Are the Only People HereLorrie MooreChildren's WardSarah DayParents Support GroupDick AllenStarterAmy HanridgePart IV Relatives, Lovers, and FriendsThe ClosetAllegra GoodmanThe CaregiverEugenia CollierAtlantisMark DotyOceanic Hotel, NiceTereze GluckPart V Paid CaregiversA Pension PlanHa JinA Bad Day for PiscesFran Pokras YarivWheelchairLewis NordanGod's GoodnessMarjorie KemperPart VI Resources

"This book is an engrossing and insightful read that can be recommended to anyone wishing to enrich their understanding of the caregivers' predicament—the worries, isolation, uncertainty, and losses as well as the satisfactions. The brevity and completeness of the selections reduce the time commitment and are likely to stimulate reflections on and connections with one's own experience."—The Gerontologist