Roctogenarians

Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs

By: Mo Rocca, Jonathan Greenberg

Narrated by: Mo Rocca

Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

From beloved CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca, author of New York Times bestseller Mobituaries, comes an inspiring collection of stories that celebrates the triumphs of people who made their biggest marks late in life.

Eighty has been the new sixty for about twenty years now. In fact, there have always been late-in-life achievers, those who declined to go into decline just because they were eligible for social security. Journalist, humorist, and history buff Mo Rocca and coauthor Jonathan Greenberg introduce us to the people past and present who peaked when they could have been puttering—breaking out as writers, selling out concert halls, attempting to set land-speed records—and in the case of one ninety-year tortoise, becoming a first-time father. (Take that, Al Pacino!)

In the vein of Mobituaries, Roctogenarians is a collection of entertaining and unexpected profiles of these unretired titans—some long gone (a cancer-stricken Henri Matisse, who began work on his celebrated cut-outs when he could no longer paint), some very much still living (Mel Brooks, yukking it up at close to one hundred). The amazing cast of characters also includes Mary Church Terrell, who at eighty-six helped lead sit-ins at segregated Washington, DC, lunch counters in the 1950s, and Carol Channing, who married the love of her life at eighty-two. Then there’s Peter Mark Roget, who began working on his thesaurus in his twenties and completed it at seventy-three (because sometimes finding the right word takes time.)

With passion and wonder Rocca and Greenberg recount the stories of yesterday’s and today’s strongest finishers. Because with all due respect to the Golden Girls, some people will never be content sitting out on the lanai. (PS Actress Estelle Getty was sixty-two when she got her big break. And yes, she’s in the book.)

©2024 Mo Rocca and Jonathan Greenberg (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Mo Rocca Rocks!

I love Mo’s wonderful subject matter and eloquent way with words. I can’t wait for the next great read from him.

Morocca rocks

Entertaining engaging storytelling at its best fabulous characters from the past blasting forth in their leader, lives to enthrall us all

The depth of research

Ideal selection of individuals whose lives or well researched and vividly came to life in a most enjoyable manner

Interesting stories and profiles about older people

The stories were mostly interesting but more like an almanac or encyclopedia. The profiles were not as intimate or in-depth as the ones in his other book, Mobituaries. Some were very short sketches that did not provide much new information. I missed Mo's wittiness throughout which was much less evident in this book. I felt like his imprint and personality was sparsely scattered and that some of the writing was filler.