Giammatteo, Hollis. The Shelf Life of Ashes. She Writes. May 2016. 256p. ISBN 9781631520471. pap. $16.95.

Hertneky, Paul. Rust Belt Boy: Stories of an American Childhood. Bauhan. May 2016. 232p. ISBN 9780872332225. pap. $21.95.

Kinsley, Michael. Old Age: A Beginner’s Guide. Tim Duggan. Apr. 2016. 160p. ISBN 9781101903766. $18; ebk. ISBN 9781101903773. MEMOIR

Three new memoirs from boomers address in different perspectives the final frontiers of old age, illness and death, and what has happened along the way. Which approach works best, looking back, analyzing the present, or gazing forward? Each memoirist makes a pretty strong case for their method.

Freelance journalist Hertneky’s Rust Belt Boy grapples with events of his generation with an examination of his Steel Belt hometown, Ambridge, PA, a Pittsburgh suburb, after the steel turned to rust and the “Burgh Diaspora” occurred. Taught in school to look—optimistically—to the future, instead of back at the area’s history and cultural vibrancy, Hertneky reports in a series of thoughtful essays on the traditions of ethnicity, religion, and family that have shaped the community named after the American Bridge Company. Despite the reluctance of longtime residents and aging relatives to tell stories about the old days, Hertneky concludes that the town’s formative narratives are carried within him and others, serving as a force in the region’s rebirth.

Buddhist, playwright, feminist, peace activist and essayist Giammatteo struggled to find balance between her own needs and those of her dying mother as she navigated several tricky years of midlife. An attempt to gain insight into aging without angst led her to employment as a companion to the elderly in Seattle, thousands of miles away from her own parents in Pennsylvania. While the irony of that situation was not lost on her, the lessons she learned negotiating a peace with her difficult and staunchly Christian Science–practicing adoptive mother led the author to the realization that just showing up, or being present for her mother, was the key to living through a difficult state of affairs gracefully. Giammatteo’s wry observations about her elderly companions, her own health, and that of her needy mother keep the narrative firmly grounded in the here and now.

Finally, Slate founder, New Yorker contributor, ­Vanity Fair columnist, and policy wonk Kinsley examines the boomer legacy from the vantage point of his experiences living both with and without Parkinson’s disease. His larger concern, however, is with the generation’s posthumous reputation. Kinsley’s hybrid of the personal and the political essay is enlivened with anecdotes about famous politicos and the author’s own medical odyssey, yet the focus remains on how boomers’ futures will unfold. Kinsley considers himself an advance scout for the boomers, experiencing in his 50s what the rest of his cohort will go through in their later years. His ambitious (but quixotic) plan for his generation to conquer the national debt is one suggestion Kinsley makes in his call to arms. His greater point is not to be ignored: we’re all in this together. VERDICT For those who are navigating middle and old age, these memoirists offer thoughtful observations about the journey, particularly Kinsley, who even provides a suggestion for saving the generation’s posthumous reputation.—Therese Purcell Nielsen, ­Huntington P.L., NY