The book is based on autobiographical narrative interviews with 20 elderly individuals. The interviews provide insight into life in advanced age. When older people recount their lives, they organize, evaluate, and reflect on their experiences. They describe their personal beliefs about how and why certain challenges were managed or not managed. They illustrate what and who gave them courage and confidence throughout their lives and where they drew their strength from. The elderly also explain how they manage to remain "in their own skin" and "identical to themselves" despite the changes that come with old age, the losses they have experienced, and the physical and mental limitations they face. The specific focus of the empirical work is on the level of interpretative performances and meaning-making processes, that is, the manner in which they navigate these experiences.