The Elderly Must Endure focuses on the Minangkabau elderly people in the 21st century. The book is the result of a 'long-term study' among the Minangkabau of West Sumatra and presented in a fascinating ethnographic report style. Rebecca Fanany and Ismet Fanany conducted an in-depth interview with several elderly people and numbers of their extended families, both in West Sumatra and overseas (rantau), to describe 'the experience of ageing in modern Minangkabau society' which constitutes the 'forefront of social change with the understanding that this will offer insight into similar forces that are being experienced all around the country by older individuals of all backgrounds and cultural origins.'