What are the causes of the much discussedmale midlife<br > crisis?Is age the only determining factor7<br > Whyand in what waysdo questions of selfimage and life<br > goals reassed themselves at midlife?<br > How do individuals adaptor fail to adaptto the midlife pas<br > sage--and to the dramatic career changes that often emerge<br > from it?<br > In this probing analysis of a group of lawyersengineersaca-<br > demicsand businessmen who Ieft established professions to<br > pursue careers in the creative artsSamuel Osherson goes be-<br > yond simplistic explanations of the midlife crisisThe book<br > places the radicaI career changes of these men squarely in the<br > context of their total life situations and adult developmental ex-<br > periences<br > Osherson found that all of the men had undergone selfreveal-<br > ing experiencesbut they differed in the degree to which they<br > listened and responded to these experiencesDrawing on a<br > careful ly worked out model of adult developmentthe author ex-<br > plains why some people confidently confront changes in their<br > lives while others seem to be less able to experience transition<br > Richly illustrated with excerpts frOm interviewsHolding On or<br > Letting Go links the tasks and challenges of midlife with those<br > of other points in the life cycleOshersonS original and sophis-<br > ticated analysis illuminates the crucial factors--career selec-<br > tionmarital choiceparentaI relationshipsand adolescent ex-<br > periences--underlying the difficult questions that are posed<br > anewwith increased urgencyat m Jdl ife <br >