In Life After Ninety Micheal Bury and Anthea Holme have surveyed and interviewed 200 individuals, living at home and in institutions, to examine old age stereotypes and present a unique picture of the health, quality of life, and social circumstances of the very old. Longevity and the factors which promote it are also discussed, and throughout the book the concept of the 'life course' is employed, which brings together the biographical experiences of individuals, and the changing historical circumstances of the twentieth century, through which they have lived.

First published in 1985, Anthea Holme focuses her study on Bethnal Green in East London and Wanstead and Woodford in outer East London. She makes a four-way comparison, between two neighbourhoods of the present, a relatively prosperous outer London suburb and a London East End district carrying its full quota of inner-city problems.