Read Suzanne Braun Levine's posts on the Penguin Blog. An inspiring guide to maximizing creativity and happiness in the second half of life Suzanne Braun Levine follows her groundbreaking Inventing the Rest of Our Lives with fresh insights, research, and practical advice on the challenges and unexpected rewards for women in their fifties, sixties, and seventies. Rich with anecdotes, this book captures the voices of women who are confronting change, renegotiating their relationships, and discovering who they are now that they are finally grown up. Levine's own warm, wise, and humorous voice make this guide encouraging, enriching, and empowering. 50 Is the New Fifty is about survival, joy, and camaraderie, and it proves that fifty is its own wonderful stage of possibilities and promise. Watch a Video "No more pretended youth! Suzanne Braun Levine shows us the wisdom and joys of living in our own personal present. For women who have been pressured into living the past over and over again, Fifty is the New Fifty is the first true age liberation." -Gloria Steinem "Suzanne Braun Levine's honest and empowering book is the antidote to all those anti-aging creams and glum pronouncements about life after fifty. It explains why for me and for so many other women, this has turned out to be the most free, creative, and rewarding time of life." -Isabella Rossellini " Fifty is the New Fifty is just what I expected from Suzanne Braun Levine-useful, comforting and smart." -Jane Fonda "Finally, fifty comes of age! Levine's concept of Second Adulthood confirms what women have been telling one another in private-this is a wonderful stage and we can each claim it in our own way." -Marlo Thomas Suzanne Braun Levine is a writer, editor, and nationally recognized authority on women, media matters, and family issues. Editor of Ms. magazine from its founding in 1972 until 1989 and editor in chief of the Columbia Journalism Review , she is currently a contributing editor of More magazine . The author of a book about fatherhood and numerous articles and essays, she has also produced a Peabody Award-winning documentary about American women. She has appeared on Oprah and the Today show and has lectured widely. Table of Contents   Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Acknowledgements   Lesson One - Fifty Is the New Fifty Lesson Two - Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes Lesson Three - No Is Not a Four-Letter Word Lesson Four - A “Circle of Trust” Is a Must Lesson Five - Every Crisis Creates a “New Normal” Lesson Six - Do Unto Yourself as You Have Been Doing Unto Others Lesson Seven - Age Is Not a Disease Lesson Eight - Your Marriage Can Make It Lesson Nine - You Do Know What You Want to Do with the Rest of Your Life Lesson Ten - Both Is the New Either/Or   Bibliography Web Sites and Organizations Index Also by Suzanne Braun Levine   Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood Father Courage: What Happens When Men Put Family First Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad from the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, Pissed Off Jimmy Carter, Battled for the Rights of Women and Workers, Rallied Against War and for the Planet, and Shook Up Politics Along the Way, an oral history (with Mary Thom) VIKING Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published in 2009 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright © Suzanne Braun Levine, 2009 All rights reserved Excerpt from “The New Old Woman” by Robin Morgan (from the forthcoming collection Dark Matter: New Poems by Robin Morgan). Copyright © 2007 by Robin Morgan. . While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING In PUBLICATION DATA Lev