Theodore Rosak, professor of history at California State University, is the author of two classics of the 1960s: The Making of a Counter Culture and Where the Wasteland Ends. He now believes that the baby-boomer generation, who are in their fifties and sixties, can use their retirement to create the good society they yearned for in their youth. These men and women will lead us into "the longevity revolution."

What does Rosak mean by this term? "We're not just talking here about longevity as the extension of life as usual. We are talking about longevity as achieved by people who have been through a terrible crisis that has saved them from death and given them the gift of life." Hopefully, these survivors will bequeath to others the fruits of attained wisdom from their experiences. Becoming a responsible elder is now a rite of passage that might determine the destiny of this nation and the quality of its life in future generations.