An intriguing examination of an important health issue...[I]nformed general readers will find it useful. -Library Journal In this thorough and critical book, Renee Beard explores the medicalization, culture and experience of Alzheimer's Disease in a breadth rarely encountered in sociological analyses of illness. This work should become a benchmark in the social studies of Alzheimer's for a long time. ... Read more-Peter Conrad,author of The Medicalization of Society Living with Alzheimer's is an important empirical contribution to illness narratives about people with memory problems or experiencing forgetfulness. I highly recommend it to scholars interested in the sociology of diagnosis, social studies of dementia, and the sociology of ageing. -Sociology of Health & Illness Based on an exceptional range of qualitative data, Living with Alzheimer's brilliantly illuminates how a primarily biomedical approach to memory loss shapes the identities and experiences of millions of newly minted patients. Equally, Renee Beard alerts us to how counter-narratives can potentially liberate the marginalized voices of those dealing with questionable diagnoses of cognitive impairment. Finely organized and conceptually rich, this book should be standard reading for anyone puzzling through the confounding distinction between normal aging and pathological forgetfulness. -David Karp,author of Speaking of Sadness Show Less