Sociology: death and dying Books

Book Synopsis'This isn’t a grisly book; it is sharp, angry, punchily philosophical and often funny. It basically invents a new type of lifestyle aspiration: deathstyle.' The Times 'Callender’s joyous, thought-provoking book is an account of how his own early encounters with bereavement led to him becoming a new kind of undertaker.' Daily Mail 'Part memoir, part rant against the traditional funeral business, part manifesto, part just musing on death and facing it with compassion and courage. It’s lovely and thoughtful and may make you rethink a few things.' The Guardian ‘This book is a great work of craft and beauty.’ Salena Godden ‘This compelling personal story of a pioneering punk undertaker is a moving revelation.’ Love Reading ‘Inspiring and unforgettable.’ John Higgs, author of William Blake vs the World Death has shown me...the unbreakable core of love and courage that lies at the heart of what it means to be human. Ru Callender wanted to become a pioneering undertaker in order to offer people a more honest experience than the stilted formality of traditional ‘Victorian’ funerals. Driven by raw emotion and the unresolved grief of losing his own parents, Ru brought an outsider, ‘DIY’ ethos to the business of death, combined with the kinship and inspiration he found in rave culture, social outlaws and political nonconformists. Ru has carried coffins across windswept beaches, sat in pubs with caskets on beer-stained tables, helped children fire flaming arrows into their father’s funeral pyre, turned modern occult rituals into performance art and, with the band members of the KLF, is building the People’s Pyramid of bony bricks in Liverpool – all in the name of creating truly authentic experiences that celebrate those who are no longer here and those who remain. Radical, poignant, unflinchingly real and laugh-aloud funny, What Remains? will change the way you think about life, death and the human experience.Trade Review‘This book is great work of craft and beauty, truth and humanity, heart and soul. I believe it could be used as a teaching tool and as a comfort. I find Callender’s approach to this huge subject deeply loving and moving, but also revolutionary in spirit and courageous.’ Salena Godden, author of Mrs Death Misses Death‘This moving, angry and funny book isn’t just about an odd career ushering people off to join the Silent Majority, but a beautiful guide to how to live, grieve and remember well.’ Luke Turner, author of Out of the Woods; co-founder, The Quietus‘A remarkable book. One of the most important books of our age. It had me laughing and crying by turns, sometimes both at the same time, and each page brought a new revelation, a new insight, a new understanding of what it means to be human in this beautiful world, in this strange moment we are passing through. ‘It's a book destined to join the greats of counterculture nonfiction, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Cosmic Trigger and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.’ CJ Stone, author of Fierce Dancing‘What Remains? is a profound and vital book that reads less like a memoir and more like a confession. As honest, terrifying and truthful as a mirror at midday, it embraces life and death equally and is too compassionate to flinch. Inspiring and unforgettable.’ John Higgs, author of William Blake vs the World‘Rupert Callender’s compelling personal story brings us face to face with what he describes as “the sharp edge, where life cuts into death”: a place our society keeps discreetly under wraps, but which we will all visit sooner or later. An exquisitely sensitive, eloquent and courageous guide to its mysteries and terrors, its ordinariness and its humanity.’ Mike Jay, writer and cultural historian‘If there is one book you should read when death comes knocking or you get the sudden urge to build a crop circle in the middle of the night, then this is that book. ‘I was lucky...lucky because when my kid brother died suddenly and shockingly, The Green Funeral Company were the local undertakers in his hometown; they even knew him. ‘They took me to their forest HQ at Dartington Hall, where Simon was laid out on a funeral bier in their chapel of rest like some medieval king. ‘Later, in the front office by the fire, we talked about building pyres and pyramids in a forest clearing. ‘In the end, Simon’s funeral was simple, and better for it. ‘From crop circles to the Gates of Hell and back again, Ru’s book will be your guide.’ Jimmy Cauty, The JAM’s, K2 Plant Hire‘A truly extraordinary book. It is like nothing else I've ever read, or thought I needed. Heartful of the ferocious, transcendent power of love and wonder; it is deeply profound, funny, and wholly and radically moving. What Remains? reveals life in the presence of death, as alchemy; as glorious and thoughtful ritual. Bright and dark and glittering as a funeral pyre, its embers are lasting, life-affirming, life-changing, death facing and unflinching.’ Nicola Chester, Wainwright-longlisted author of On Gallows Down‘It's extraordinary. You'll laugh, you'll cry, your heart will break, your heart will shine, filled with love. You'll be changed. An instant classic.’ Rob Hopkins, author of From What Is to What If‘A fascinating insight into Life’s oldest ritual. Dead interesting.’ Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul‘Rupert Callender takes us to the dark end of the street, but he does so with wit, beauty and no little experience. It’s a one-of-a-kind ride, filled with storytelling. This original and gutsy book will do a lot of good in the world.’ Martin Shaw, author of Smoke Hole‘Vulnerable, raw and moving, this is a book for anyone who strives to die, and live, in an emotionally authentic and honest way. Essential reading. Beautifully written.’ Louise Winter, progressive funeral director, coauthor of We All Know How This Ends‘I loved What Remains? Funny, demystifying, but mostly, deeply moving.’ Kathy Burke, director'Part memoir, part rant against the traditional funeral business, part manifesto, part just musing on death and facing it with compassion and courage. It’s lovely and thoughtful and may make you rethink a few things.' The Guardian'This isn’t a grisly book; it is sharp, angry, punchily philosophical and often funny. It basically invents a new type of lifestyle aspiration: deathstyle.' The Times

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Book SynopsisBOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SPECTATOR AND THE TIMES'Fascinating.... Deeply disturbing... Brilliant' Sunday Times'Powerful and moving.' Louis TherouxMeet Adam. He's twenty-seven years old, articulate and attractive. He also wants to die. Should he be helped? And by whom?In The Inevitable, award-winning journalist Katie Engelhart explores one of our most abiding taboos: assisted dying. From Avril, the 80-year-old British woman illegally importing pentobarbital, to the Australian doctor dispensing suicide manuals online, Engelhart travels the world to hear the stories of those on the quest for a 'good death'.At once intensely troubling and profoundly moving, The Inevitable interrogates our most uncomfortable moral questions. Should a young woman facing imminent paralysis be allowed to end her life with a doctor's help? Should we be free to die painlessly before dementia takes our mind? Or to choose death over old age? A deeply reported portrait of everyday people struggling to make impossible decisions, The Inevitable sheds crucial light on what it means to flourish, live and die.Trade ReviewThere's plenty of compassion, plenty of nuance and plenty of complex thought. Engelhart is a skilled storyteller... Her brilliant book should be prescribed to all those who think they have a clear view [on the right to die]. * Sunday Times *Powerful and moving. Engelhart recounts the stories of those she meets with humanity and grace. * Louis Theroux, bestselling author of Gotta Get Theroux This *Deeply researched and beautifully reported... [Engelhart] writes compassionately of her subjects' struggles. * The Economist *A brilliantly sensitive and deeply moving account of assisted dying. * Stephen Westaby, Sunday Times bestselling author of Fragile Lives *Table of Contents0: Introduction 1: Modern Medicine 2: Age 3: Body 4: Memory 5: Mind 6: Freedom 7: The End

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Book SynopsisIn contextualizing the Dutch funerary practice in its wider legal, national and local governance framework, this book describes the historical context for current practices, provides data on trends in burial and cremation, and examines recent developments including natural burial, increasing religious diversity and changing national legislation. Chapters provide an overview of funerary history and contemporary practice, alongside photographs, charts and tables of key information. Topics explored include: the death care industry; the Corpse Disposal Act; a typical funeral including funeral costs and insurance; cemetery and crematorium provision; and, the practices, technicalities and legalities of burial and cremation. The book also analyses and illustrates the commemorative practice of public mourning events related to World War II, the Holocaust and the MH17 plane crash. This book provides a broad frame of reference on funeral practices, making it a useful resource for academics, policy makers and practitioners interested in the historic, legal, technical and professional aspects of the funerary industry.Trade ReviewMathijssen and Venhorst describe funerary practices in the Netherlands as a dynamic field still being shaped by a Protestant majority in the North and a Roman Catholic majority in the South, by the segregation of society into pillars, by the arrival of migrants from the former colonies of Suriname and Indonesia and from the Caribbean territories, by the arrival of guest workers from the peripheries of Europe and elsewhere, by individualization and secularization, by emancipation movements, and by technical innovation. They cover history, demographic and legal frameworks, the funeral directing industry, paying for funerals, a typical funeral, burial and cemeteries, cremation and crematoria, and death and remembrance in the public sphere. -- Annotation ©2019 * (protoview.com) *Table of ContentsChapter 1. The Netherlands: An Introduction Chapter 2. History Chapter 3. Demographic and legal frameworks Chapter 4. The funeral directing industry Chapter 5. Paying for funerals Chapter 6. A typical funeral Chapter 7. Burial and Cemeteries Chapter 8. Cremation and Crematoria Chapter 9. Death and Remembrance in the Public Sphere

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of ‘The Prehistory of Sex’ – a coruscating, insightful history of the human soul.Trade Review‘Perceptive, radical and elegantly written. His quest for answers takes us on an extraordinary journey, like time travellers in the boneyards of history…All this is achieved with the style of a consummate storyteller.’ Bel Mooney, The Times ‘Like a thriller-writer he deploys cliff-hanging chapter endings. Like a good novelist he is unafraid of human emotion. As an archaeologist he knows how to sort and wash bones. As a thinker he restores dignity to these unnamed bodies by holding them compassionately with his words.’ Michele Roberts, Independent on Sunday ‘Sit back and revel in this riveting exploration of our collective ancestral psyche.’ Sunday Herald ‘Illuminating.’ Scotsman

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Kudos to Dugdale’s The Lost Art of Dying for being honest, refreshing, and useful. As a physician who has experienced many deaths, she helps us think about the meaning of our lives and about how to have a good death. I recommend this book to all who are mortal." — Mary Pipher, author of Women Rowing North “In this profound and compassionate book about death and its nearness, Dugdale demystifies one of the essential mysteries of our time.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene “Like Atul Gawande and Paul Kalanithi, Dugdale writes fluently about dying from clinical experience. What sets her book apart is that she writes wise words everyone needs to hear as they live. When I lay dying, I hope I will have a doctor like Dr. Dugdale at the bedside.” — Abraham Nussbaum, MD, author of The Finest Traditions of My Calling “I’m adding this book about dying to my collection of treasured guides to living well. Filling me with illuminating, compelling, and consoling hope, this book, more than any other I have read, reveals how to rediscover the lost art of dying. Read it. Then read it again and again.” — Raymond Barfield, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and Christian philosophy, Duke University "One of the most avoided questions in life is also one of the most important: what is it like to die? It's a question we will all encounter, no matter what our beliefs about the afterlife. And you will find no more compassionate and knowledgeable guide than Dr. Dugdale, who has accompanied many people on this journey. Her new book is a great gift to all of us who will die or face death, which is to say, all of us." — James Martin, SJ, author of The Jesuit Guide and Jesus: A Pilgrimage "This illuminating and thought-provoking book will convince many readers to reexamine their assumptions about death and dying." — Publisher's Weekly (starred review) “Want a better life? Then think about your death, starting with Lydia Dugdale’s The Lost Art of Dying. Dugdale shows that death should be courageously confronted. In so doing, we not only conquer our fear, but also understand the reason for our lives.” — Arthur C. Brooks, author of Love Your Enemies and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School “Dugdale examines how we have surrendered to the medical machine while surfacing ways we can regain control of key decisions over our quality of life and death. Everyone must read this book, whether you are a health-care professional, a public-policy official, or just hoping to reach an advanced age.” — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Senior Associate Dean, Yale School of Management “In this important new book, Dugdale asks why it is so difficult for patients and families to accept terminal diagnoses and for all of us to recognize our finitude. The solution, Dugdale proposes, is for us to learn about dying now, as part of our living. And she is right.” — Victoria Sweet, MD, PhD, author of God's Hotel and Slow Medicine “Who would have thought that a book on dying could be so enlivening? But that is precisely Dugdale’s point: if we do not face our deaths, they destroy us before they have happened. A lucid, learned, humane, and utterly necessary book.” — Christian Wiman, author of My Bright Abyss Lydia Dugdale’s The Lost Art of Dying proves that there is often nothing more relevant to our present cultural moment than the wisdom of the past--in this instance, on the subject of how to face death. The book is based on a great deal of painstaking scholarship but is written in the most accessible style. It will not only be of enormous help to people facing their own death or the death of a loved one, but also to professionals in various fields who attend the dying. — Timothy Keller, NYT Bestselling Author, Pastor Emeritus, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City. “In this extraordinary book Dugdale applies both her clinical experience and her deep insights into a centuries-old approach to help dying patients live well and die well. Although I was an early student of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Dugdale’s book has provided me with new insights that I will apply immediately.” — Dr. Mark Siegler, Lindy Bergman Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Chicago and coauthor of Clinical Ethics “Sensitive, informed by clinical experience, rich in the wisdom of the past, L. S. Dugdale has written a riveting book about life’s hardest truth—death. A must read for all of us as we face our mortality.” — R. R. Reno, editor of First Things “The Lost Art of Dying brilliantly combines medical experience and humanistic tradition to show not only how we should prepare for death and why we must, but also that it is an essential part of the art of living well.” — James Rhodes, PhD, professor emeritus of Medieval Studies at Southern Connecticut State University Lydia Dugdale provides wise guidance, compelling stories, and fascinating historical background to help us rediscover the lost art of dying. She does so from the perspective of a caring physician, but also as a fellow pilgrim on the path of life. Everyone who lives will die someday, yet too few consider what it means to “die well.” This book can help to close that gap. It does so with style and grace. — Rita Ferrone, contributing writer and columnist, Commonweal magazine “Dugdale patiently and respectfully unveils the reality that many in our world die poorly. Drawing on Medieval wisdom on dying well, she teases out lessons for today. Anyone who deals with the dying--sooner or later, don't we all?--will profit enormously from this insightful and compassionate book.” — D. A. Carson, author of Praying with Paul "In this fascinating, timely, and important book Dugdale draws us into the transformative wisdom of the art of dying. In so doing she reimagines a world where death is not simply an oppressive shadow to be avoided but an important step on the road to life in all its fullness." — John Swinton, author of Dementia: Living In the Memories of God A physician draws wisdom from a medieval text to transform our thoughts and fears about dying. Balancing her clinical experience with an openly holistic mindfulness, Dugdale thoughtfully expands on the relevant lessons of ars moriendi (“the art of dying”) . . . A wise and reassuring guide for confronting death. — Kirkus “Dugdale guides readers toward taking a holistic approach to this final stage by accepting the finitude of life, developing meaningful rituals, and involving their communities in end-of-life care. The overarching theme is that to die well, one must live well. . . . A readable and inspiring manual.” — Library Journal "At this fraught moment, Dugdale's work could not feel more uncanny and necessary." — Yale Divinity School News ”Read this book before you need it. Read it for yourself and to share with people in your community who can’t read it. This wisdom should never again be lost or forgotten.” — The Public Discourse “This insightful book accurately describes the widespread dysfunction that occurs when we are distracted from the consideration of our own mortality.” — Mercatornet “One day that last breath will occur. Are we prepared? Are you? Reading Dugdale’s book becomes therapeutic and nurturing as the readers are challenged by prying questions, followed by reasoned reflection. A beautiful book—one of the few I would purchase for a friend and read again.” — Pneuma “In its exploration of dying and how it can go well or poorly, her book is a success and much-needed.” — Journal of Palliative Medicine

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Book Synopsis''A refreshingly original meditation... I wish I had written it myself'' Literary ReviewGraveyards are oases: places of escape, peace and reflection. Liminal sites of commemoration, where the past is close enough to touch. Yet they also reflect their living community - how in our restless, accelerated modern world, we are losing our sense of connection to the dead.Jean Sprackland - the prize-winning poet and author of Strands - travels back through her life, revisiting her once local graveyards. In seeking out the stories of those who lived and died there, remembered and forgotten, she unearths what has been lost.Trade ReviewA wide-ranging, unpredictable and refreshingly original meditation on a huge but widely ignored subject: the relationship between the living and the dead… Exhilarating… This is a lovely book: beautifully written, never lapsing into self-conscious ‘poet’s prose’, always a joy to read. I wish I had written it myself. -- Nigel Andrew * Literary Review *Cemetery tales, filled with fascinating details and told with a poet’s skill… Delightfully morbid… Sprackland roves about history, language, biology, architecture, entomology, iconography and much else in her quest for meaning… [and] the astonishing twist…should justify your reading These Silent Mansions in its entirety. -- Anthony Quinn * Guardian *Shot through with delightful digressions… There is a spare beauty to Sprackland’s prose… These Silent Mansions is a strange and mercurial book; hard to pin down, but even harder to forget. -- Lucy Scholes * i *Sprackland has the poet’s knack for atmosphere and a magician’s ability to conjure up other worlds. She is like a ghostly time traveller… Sprackland is particularly agile, though, at exploring the ways in which a graveyard reflects its community and how, with modern life, we are losing this sense of connection. -- Ann Treneman * The Times *Part social history, part personal meditation and wholly enchanting - as attentive to local and moving details as it is to the fact of mortality itself. -- Andrew Motion

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Book SynopsisJohn Gray is most recently the acclaimed author of Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, Al Qaeda and What It Means to be Modern, Heresies: Against Progress and Other Illusions and False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. Having been Professor of Politics at Oxford, Visiting Professor at Harvard and Yale and Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, he now writes full time. His books and articles have been translated into over thirty languages. His selected writings, Gray's Anatomy, were published by Penguin in 2009.Trade ReviewThe most prescient of British public intellectuals * Financial Times *Gray has consistently anticipated the shape of things to come ... he teaches us that true humanism is to be found in uncertainty and doubt -- Will SelfThe closest thing we have to a window-smashing French intellectual -- Andrew MarrA visionary ... one of the most reliably provocative and heterodox voices in British intellectual life today * New Statesman *Gray is a philosophical maverick, a pricker of bubbles, a deflater of balloons, a true iconoclast for whom our chief competing accounts of existence - the religious and the humanist - are both fatally flawed * Globe and Mail *Deeply thoughtful, brilliantly narrated -- Raymond Tallis * Literary Review *A romp of a read ... John Gray is a connoisseur of human idiocy -- John Banville * Guardian *Our sharpest critic of utopian fantasies skewers the crazed but enduring dream of cheating age, time and death -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *John Gray, the counter-prophet who scorns all claims that humans can transcend the human condition ... You don't have to agree with Gray to enjoy the fireworks -- Marek Kohn * Independent *Elegant ... He is on to something important regarding the delusion that science consists of indefinite progress * Sunday Telegraph *Gray is an engaging writer, an entertaining historian and a controversialist whose opinions can never be taken for granted * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisThe preeminent meditation on plagues and pandemics from the Islamic world, now in English for the first timeA Penguin ClassicSix hundred years ago, the author of this landmark work of history and religious thought—an esteemed judge, poet, and scholar in Cairo—survived the bubonic plague, which took the lives of three of his children, not to mention tens of millions of others throughout the medieval world. Holding up an eerie mirror to our own time, he reflects on the origins of plagues—from those of the Prophet Muhammad’s era to the Black Death of his own—and what it means that such catastrophes could have been willed by God, while also chronicling the fear, isolation, scapegoating, economic tumult, political failures, and crises of faith that he lived through. But in considering the meaning of suffering and mass death, he also offers a message of radical hope. Weaving together accounts of evil jinn, religious stories, medical manualTrade Review“This is the first English-language edition of his work, deservedly bringing it to a wide new audience. . . . Having lost three of his daughters to the Black Death, [Ibn Hajar] reflects with empathy and grief on examples of plagues from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to his own. . . . At a time when many ruins of the coronavirus pandemic are yet to be rebuilt, Merits of the Plague helps us to place our experience of the disease in a longer arc of history.” —The Times Literary Supplement“Remarkable . . . A landmark work of history and religious thought . . . Surprisingly modern and has a lot to say to us in the era of coronavirus.” —History Unplugged Podcast“A valuable addition to our understanding of the pandemic and how people reacted to it . . . This book offers a much-needed perspective from the Islamic world.” —Medievalists.net“A unique, non-Western medieval perspective on the Black Death and pandemics in general.” —Jara News

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Book SynopsisArguing that death is the central force shaping our social life and order, Michael Kearl draws on a wide variety of disciplines to provide a broad sociological perspective on the interrelationships of life and death. He shows how death contributes to social change, and how the meanings of death are generated to serve social functions.Working from a social as well as a psychological perspective, Kearl analyses traditional topics, including ageing, suicide, grief, and medical ethics. He also examines current issues such as the impact of the AIDS epidemic on social trust, governments'' use of death in symbolism, the business of death and dying, the political economy of doomsday weaponry, and death in popular culture.Trade Review'Michael Kearl's book should inject much-needed impetus to such academic reflection ... there is much of value in this textbook ... Kearl uses all the media available to him to lend substance to his arguments. Indeed it is this richness, together with the breadth of his inquiries, that lies at the heart of the text's strength ... written clearly and, most importantly, by someone who has obviously tried to convey many of the ideas verbally in classes and seminars. It is, consequently, both stimulating and readable.' Dr Tim Newburn, National Institute for Social Work, London, BJGC, Volume 21, No. 1, January 1993

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Book SynopsisIn spite of society''s wish to protect and insulate children from death, the experience of loss is unavoidable and there is surprisingly little guidance on how to help children cope with grief and bereavement. Never Too Young to Know: Death in Children''s Lives is the first book to bring together diverse fields of study, offering a practical as well as multifaceted theoretical approach to how children cope with death. Using stories of children''s own experiences supported by data from a large research study, Silverman explains the wide range of effects of loss upon children and the challenges they face as they grieve. Silverman presents grief as a normal part of the life cycle which results not only in pain and sadness but also in change and growth. She further explains that children can and do cope effectively with loss and the changes it brings as long as they are taught to understand that death is a part of life and that they will be included appropriately in the family drama. NeverTrade Review"It will be of great value to those who work with children ... I am very glad to add it to my bookshelf"Bereavement CareTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS ; PREFACE ; INTRODUCTION ; PART I: MAKING MEANING OF DEATH & GRIEF ; Introduction ; 1. Historical and Theoretical Perspectives ; 2. Bereavement: A Time of Changing Relationships and Transition ; 3. Grieving and Psychological Development ; 4. Children in the Family Context ; Concluding Thoughts to Part I ; PART II: STORIES PEOPLE TELL ; Introduction ; 5. The Death of a Parent: Dealing with Bad News, My World Is Turned Upside Down ; 6. The Death of a Parent: Making an Accommodation ; 7. My Child is Dying ; 8. After a Child's Death: Nothing is the Same ; 9. When a Sibling Dies ; 10. Invisible Mourners: The Death of a Friend ; PART III: ON HELPING ; Introduction ; 11. Help Over Time: Meeting Changing Needs ; 12. Finding Help: Services for the Bereaved ; 13. Teachable Moments: Promoting Competence ; AFTERWORD ; BIBLIOGRAPHY ; APPENDIX: RESOURCES FOR THE BEREAVED

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Book SynopsisThe author provides the language, not only for understanding the suicidal mind, but for understanding oneself and the psychological needs of the suicidal individual. Presenting cases that reveal the inner workings of the suicidal mind, Shneidman offers an insight to help understand and prevent suicide.Trade ReviewFascinating * New Scientist *

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Book SynopsisWhy is death bad for us, even on the assumption that it involves the absence of experience? Whom should we save from death if we cannot save everyone? Kamm considers these questions, critically examining some answers other philosophers have given.Trade ReviewThis is an intellectually challenging work which raises and discusses issues which should be widely debated, not only by specialists but by the public at large. * Journal of the Institute of Health Education *Kamm is probably the most sophisticated deontologist writing on normative issues today. * Shelley Kagan, University of Illinois *

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Book SynopsisAn international study of maternal care and maternal mortality. Since about 1800, different countries have developed quite different systems of maternal care, and this book provides an analysis, grounded in statistics, of the evolution and the effectiveness of those systems in various countries.Trade Review`Loudon's acute awareness of his subject's complexity and his sensitivity give the writing a wonderful suppleness and restraint. ... An expensive book worth every penny, it is one which lactation consultants and all those interested in maternal and child health issues today should own, read, and ponder.' J Hum Lact 9(4) 1993`Thanks to this work we can now begin to question many common assumptions about the causes of maternal mortality. Death in Childbirth surely deserves to become the standard reference work on the subject.' Ornella Moscucci, British Medical Journal`Given the complexity of the subject, it is inevitable that this carefully researched book should still raise many questions. Loudon marshals the facts with confidence and skill; his lucid and lively style is captivating, and even the numerically illiterate will have no difficulty in understanding the statistical arguments. Death in Childbirth surely deserves to become the standard reference work on the subject.' Ornella Moscucci, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, British Medical Journal`Death in Childbirth is a major achievement, and should be read by anyone interested in the history of women's relations with the medical profession ... it is a great advantage to have so much material brought together and presented in such an elegant style.' Times Literary Supplement`Loudon's impressive volume explores the causes and trends of maternal mortality...we need hard statistics. Loudon provides these in abundance, in a feat of dexterity and clarity that continues through some 600 pages..."Death In Childbirth" without doubt magnificently achieves its goal of comparing rates and causes of maternal mortality internationally...Representing the best sort of history, his book provides us with a mountain of carefully presented evidence and leaves us with much food for thought' Times Higher'This is a complex book, which would be an essential reference for anyone attempting to under-take serious work in the field: it is also a text worth browsing through, however, since Loudon writes with a conviction that is persuasive and engaging.' Nursing Times'splendid study ... Loudon marshals the facts with confidence and skill; his lucid and lively style is captivating, and even the numerically illiterate will have no difficulty in understanding the statistical arguments. Death in Childbirth surely deserves to become the standard reference work on the subject.' Onella Moscucci, British Medical Journal, Volume 306, May 1993'This is a complex book, which would be an essential reference for anyone attempting to undertake serious work in the field; it is also a text worth browsing through, however, since Loudon writes with a conviction that is persuasive and engaging. The book would certainly be very well worth including in all nursing, midwifery and medical libraries. Soo Downe, Nursing Times, June 1993`...splendid study of maternal mortality in various countries from 1800 to 1950.'^ `...carefully researched book...'^ `Thanks to this work we can now begin to question many common assumptions about the causes of maternal mortality. Loudon marshals the facts with confidence and skill; his lucid and lively style is captivating, and even the numerically illiterate will have no difficulty in understanding the statistical arguments. Death in Childbirth surely deserves to become the standard reference work on the subject' British Medical Journal'Irvine Loudon's study is both an informative compendium of information about maternal mortality, and a sensitive and persuasive analysis of statistical evidence, medical opinion from the past, and life histories. For a social historian, this hefty "read" of more than six hundred pages was sometimes shocking but always engrossing and enlightening. This is an impressively complete and passionately written book that presents a tragic story, well told.' Louise A. Tilly New School for Social Research BHM 1994 68'This is a monumental study of an extremely important subject. No future study of the history of childbirth anywhere in the world will be able (or will want) to ignore the wealth of material presented within these pages... this study will form the benchmark for the next generation of scholars. Judith Walzer Leavitt, Social History of Medicine, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1994Louden's focus is much wider than materanl mortality: he uses mortality as a lens through which to explore the history of childbirth. Loden opens with a dramatic and moving individual story, thus rightly establishing personal maternal experience as the context in which to situate materanl mortality and its medical interpretation...no summary can do this book justice. * Gender and History *This is a wholly satisfying book, judicious, comprehensive and passionate ... This book should be required reading for all medical students. * Isis *Table of ContentsPART I. THE MEASUREMENT OF MATERNAL MORTALITY ; PART II. THE CAUSES OF MATERNAL MORTALITY ; PART III: MATERNAL CARE AND MATERNAL MORTALITY IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

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Book SynopsisAwareness of Dying gives us a language and tools of analysis for understanding who knows what about dying, under what circumstances, and what difference it makes. It has proven a useful handbook for chaplains, social workers, nurses, and doctors in confronting the many ethical and personal problems that arise in dying.Table of ContentsPART I: INTRODUCTION, PART II: TYPES OF AWARENESS CONTEXTS, PART III: PROBLEMS OF AWARENESS, PART IV: CONCLUSIONS, APPENDIX: Methods of Collection and Analysis of Data, Index

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Book SynopsisThousands of memorials to executed witches, victims of terrorism, and dead astronauts, along with those that pay tribute to civil rights, organ donors, and the end of communism, have dotted the American landscape. This title argues that these memorials underscore our obsession with issues of memory and history.Trade Review"Memorial Mania is an important and much-needed book, one that complements the existing literature on memorials with richness and originality, and also forges new territory. Erika Doss's excellent and highly polemical critique of its resurgence furthers one of American studies' most noteworthy traditions." - Michelle Bogart, Stony Brook University"

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Book SynopsisIn the past few decades, thousands of memorials have dotted the American landscape. This title argues that these memorials underscore our obsession with issues of memory and history, and the urgent desire to express - and claim - those issues in visibly public contexts.Trade Review"I believe Memorial Mania will appeal to a wide audience - both inside and outside academia - given the quality of the writing and the presentation of the material.... It is a sign of the quality of Erika Doss's work that I am left wanting more." (Anthropology Works) "What makes Erika Doss's book so valuable is that it reveals the range, complexity, and depth of emotion produced by memorial acts." (American Quarterly)"

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Book SynopsisReveals a gruesome stories of exhumation and reburial throughout American history. Taking us to the contested grave sites, this title explores how complicated interactions of regional pride, shifting reputations, and evolving burial practices led to public and often emotional battles over the final resting places of famous figures.Trade Review"Kammen has a good sense of the details that make historical stories memorable. His occasional flashes of humor add a winsome, professionally geeky element to the telling." (Dallas Morning News) "The entertaining, if not macabre premise of Michael Kammen's new book is to explore how fluid final resting places may be.... As his drily witty book proves, fluctuating reputations and warring families have all played their part in ensuring that for the famous and infamous alike, there's no such thing as resting in peace." (Daily Telegraph) "This slender page-turner is a work of fact, a comprehensively researched work on a ghoulish and wonderfully weird subject: exhumation." (San Francisco Chronicle) "Kammen effectively captures the eternal dual fascination with greatness and with the dead, and the power of their conjunction in the burial of heroes." (Publishers Weekly)"

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Book SynopsisReveals a gruesome stories of exhumation and reburial throughout American history. Taking us to the contested grave sites, this title explores how complicated interactions of regional pride, shifting reputations, and evolving burial practices led to public and often emotional battles over the final resting places of famous figures.Trade Review"Kammen has a good sense of the details that make historical stories memorable. His occasional flashes of humor add a winsome, professionally geeky element to the telling." (Dallas Morning News) "The entertaining, if not macabre premise of Michael Kammen's new book is to explore how fluid final resting places may be.... As his drily witty book proves, fluctuating reputations and warring families have all played their part in ensuring that for the famous and infamous alike, there's no such thing as resting in peace." (Daily Telegraph) "This slender page-turner is a work of fact, a comprehensively researched work on a ghoulish and wonderfully weird subject: exhumation." (San Francisco Chronicle) "Kammen effectively captures the eternal dual fascination with greatness and with the dead, and the power of their conjunction in the burial of heroes." (Publishers Weekly)"

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Book SynopsisIn a society that has seen epochal change over a few generations, what remains to hold people together and offer them a sense of continuity and meaning? In Songs for Dead Parents, Erik Mueggler shows how in contemporary China death and the practices surrounding it have become central to maintaining a connection with the world of ancestors, ghosts, and spirits that socialism explicitly disavowed. Drawing on more than twenty years of fieldwork in a mountain community in Yunnan Province, Songs for Dead Parents shows how people view the dead as both material and immaterial, as effigies replace corpses, tombstones replace effigies, and texts eventually replace tombstones in a long process of disentangling the dead from the shared world of matter and memory. It is through these processes that people envision the cosmological underpinnings of the world and assess the social relations that make up their community. Thus, state interventions aimed at reforming death practices have been deeply co

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Book SynopsisIn a society that has seen epochal change over a few generations, what remains to hold people together and offer them a sense of continuity and meaning? In Songs for Dead Parents, Erik Mueggler shows how in contemporary China death and the practices surrounding it have become central to maintaining a connection with the world of ancestors, ghosts, and spirits that socialism explicitly disavowed. Drawing on more than twenty years of fieldwork in a mountain community in Yunnan Province, Songs for Dead Parents shows how people view the dead as both material and immaterial, as effigies replace corpses, tombstones replace effigies, and texts eventually replace tombstones in a long process of disentangling the dead from the shared world of matter and memory. It is through these processes that people envision the cosmological underpinnings of the world and assess the social relations that make up their community. Thus, state interventions aimed at reforming death practices have been deeply co

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Book SynopsisIn this work, Fred C. Pampel looks at fertility, suicide, and homicide rates in 18 high-income nations to show how they are affected by institutional structures.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on the moving story of the last year of the life of her own treasured dog, Ody, the author presents an in-depth exploration of the practical, medical, and moral issues that trouble pet owners confronted with the decline and death of their companion animals.Trade Review"Decisions about how to treat an animal toward the end of her or his life are among the most difficult we have to make, and it's our responsibility to do the best we can. Our companions trust that we will have their best interests in mind. In The Last Walk, Jessica Pierce considers all of the hard questions about sick and old animals. She seamlessly weaves in personal stories with scientific research to provide readers with an incredibly valuable guide-a must read-about when and how to end an animal's life in the most humane way possible. I learned a lot from reading this book, and I know others will as well." -Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals"

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"What undergirds Bering's inquiry is the belief that locating the psychological blunders that lead to suicide can help, in time, to curb their prevalence." * New Yorker *"He weaves together personal stories, delves into whether nonhuman animals die by suicide, and examines the relation of religion and self-killing. These angles offer a critical perspective on a devastating problem." * Scientific American *"Suicide is one of the toughest subjects to write about, and psychologist Jesse Bering does it with candor, scientific integrity and genuine empathy in Suicidal. . . . The book itself is a testament to the human spirit. Researching and writing the book, he says, was a way to combat suicidal ideation and give his own life a renewed sense of purpose. . . . Suicidal is a vital book--informative, engaging, and enlightening despite its dark subject matter." * Shelf Awareness *"Jesse Bering is the best science writer at work today." -- Dan Savage"By the time you finish reading these sentences someone in the world will have committed suicide. Why do more than a million people a year kill themselves? To answer this question we need a brilliant research scientist, an insightful psychologist, and a sensitive but powerful writer who has seriously contemplated taking their own life. Jesse Bering fits all three criteria and the book you hold in your hands is a deeply moving narrative that cuts to the heart of the ultimate question any of us could ever ask: why should I live? Given what’s at stake in the topic, Suicidal may very well be the most important book you will ever read." -- Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic Magazine"I'm not surprised that a book on suicide would be very personal, but I didn’t expect it to be so damn funny. It's also engaging, thoughtful, and sensitive--although Bering is certainly irreverent, there is a real appreciation of how painful and difficult this topic can be. This is a book for scholars and for a general audience, but it is also entirely suitable for people whose lives have been touched by the suicide of someone they loved." -- Paul Bloom, author of Against Empathy"In Suicidal, Jesse Bering explores one of the most essential questions we all face: Why keep living? He doesn't claim to have found any easy answers, but his exploration is surprising, funny, touching, and deeply personal. Suicidal feels like a gift, and reading it reminded me that encounters with great books are reason enough, for now, to keep going." -- Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn"I have yet to come away from reading one of [Bering's] essays and not feel considerably better informed than I was just minutes before." * Forbes *"The book interweaves disciplinary, literary, historical, media, personal and sensationalist sources. . . . the resulting amalgam brilliantly succeeds at providing both an accessible and an earnest account." * Allegra Lab *Table of Contents1 The Call to Oblivion 2 Unlike the Scorpion Girt by Fire 3 Betting Odds 4 Hacking the Suicidal Mind 5 The Things She Told Lorraine 6 To Log Off This Mortal Coil 7 What Doesn’t Die 8 Gray Matter Acknowledgments Resources Notes Index

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Book SynopsisSingular Paths, based extensively on interviews, breaks fresh ground by describing specifically the situations, experiences, and feelings of the often-overlooked single and widowed elderly male.Trade ReviewThe results enhance our understanding of older persons, specifically older men living alone. Journal of GerontologyTable of ContentsPreface Background Transitions Widowhood Never-Married Older Men Activities: Being and Doing Loneliness The Meaning of Living Alone Appendix 1. Research Methods Appendix 2. Recommendatiions for Service Providers References

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Book SynopsisThe first book in English to trace the resurrected skeleton, this text translates major adaptations while drawing parallels to Jesus’s encounter with a skull and the European tradition of the Dance of Death.Trade ReviewIdema is the master translator of Chinese popular and religious culture. Here he offers the first English-language translations of enchanting texts, both famous and rare, around one classic story: Zhuangzi's encounter with a skeleton. The anthology speaks both to universal concerns and to Chinese literature's unique way of blending religion, philosophy, poetry, and farce. -- Vincent Goossaert, coauthor of The Religious Question in Modern China Master Zhuang's encounter with a skull, macabre though it may innately seem, is possessed of the peculiarly wry and mordant humor of the author of the eponymous volume also known as Wandering on the Way. This short, piquant tale spawned a host of adaptations and variations in a wide variety of genres, from rhapsodies to dramas, from ballad stories to precious scrolls, and many others beside. Idema gathers a generous selection of texts on this grim theme that has persisted in the Chinese literary tradition for more than two thousand years and provides them with expert translations that are sure to leave readers both chilled and thrilled. -- Victor H. Mair, coeditor of The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature A masterful set of translations... Idema has presented future researchers, not only in Chinese and Daoist studies but also in comparative literature, religious studies, and cultural studies generally, with a wonderful collection of resources for investigation and interpretation. -- Jeffrey L. Richey H-Asia [The Resurrected Skeleton: From Zhuangzi to Lu Xun] offers for students and scholars alike an accessible and fresh avenue to a portion of the Zhuangzi's multi-faceted reception history that has not been available in English to this day. Journal of Chinese ReligionTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Two Narrative Daoqing 2. One Late Ming Play 3. One Youth Book 4. One Precious Scroll 5. One Modern Parody Appendix 1. Three Rhapsodies Appendix 2. Twenty-One Lyrics Appendix 3. Ten Skeletons Character List Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisLiving Through Loss provides a foundational identification of the many ways in which people experience loss over the life course, from childhood to old age. This second edition features new and expanded content on diversity and trauma, including discussions of gun violence, police brutality, suicide, and an added focus on systemic racism.Trade ReviewInvaluable. . . . It was written for social workers, but its insights, information, and practical application will be helpful for a range of professional workers who come into contact with people who are grieving a significant loss. * Journal of Social Work *This book is both a mine of information and provides an enormous amount of food for thought and reflection. Highly recommended. -- Roger Woodruff, director of palliative care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia * International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care News *Provides a comprehensive overview of grief theory, a review of losses experienced at different points in our lives, and evidence informed interventions. This timely text would provide an excellent introduction for practitioners working with bereaved people as well as be highly practical for a course textbook that students would be able to return to later once in practice. * Journal of Gerontological Social Work *This second edition of a splendid book explores the pervasiveness of loss in multiple forms (death and non-death). The authors examine loss in terms of a range of theoretical understandings and provide approaches to intervention that consider social, cultural, and environmental contexts and influences. This is a rich addition to the consideration of loss. -- Allan Cole, author of Good Mourning: Getting Through Your GriefAt a time when people are reeling from the many losses dealt by the pandemic, the second edition of this book could not be timelier. The life span approach taken and interventions provided for each life stage impart a wealth of critical information and guidance to current and future clinicians. -- Tracy A. Schroepfer, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLiving Through Loss is an important, timely, and compelling book that presents an evolved perspective of the universal experiences of loss and grief. This book is authentic, grounded, and written from the authors’ deep awareness and knowledge—leading the reader to a richer understanding of loss across the life course. -- Deborah Waldrop, University at BuffaloUniquely, the authors interweave professional and scholarly knowledge with personal experience. As a clinician and teacher, I found myself tallying up my own losses and acknowledging reverberations of old sorrows. The overall effect is a sense of being grounded in the midst of great complexity—a gift both to the scholar and the clinician. -- Wendy Lustbader, author of Counting on Kindness: The Dilemmas of DependencyTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Theoretical Perspectives on Grief2. The Grief Process and Types of Grief3. Resilience and Meaning-Making4. Loss and Grief in Childhood5. Interventions for Grieving Children6. Loss and Grief in Adolescence7. Interventions for Grieving Adolescents8. Loss and Grief in Young Adulthood9. Interventions for Grieving Young Adults10. Loss and Grief in Middle Adulthood11. Interventions for Grieving Midlife Adults12. Loss and Grief in Old Age13. Interventions for Grieving Older Adults14. Professional Self-Awareness and Self-CareNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisLiving Through Loss provides a foundational identification of the many ways in which people experience loss over the life course, from childhood to old age. This second edition features new and expanded content on diversity and trauma, including discussions of gun violence, police brutality, suicide, and an added focus on systemic racism.Trade ReviewInvaluable. . . . It was written for social workers, but its insights, information, and practical application will be helpful for a range of professional workers who come into contact with people who are grieving a significant loss. * Journal of Social Work *This book is both a mine of information and provides an enormous amount of food for thought and reflection. Highly recommended. -- Roger Woodruff, director of palliative care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia * International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care News *Provides a comprehensive overview of grief theory, a review of losses experienced at different points in our lives, and evidence informed interventions. This timely text would provide an excellent introduction for practitioners working with bereaved people as well as be highly practical for a course textbook that students would be able to return to later once in practice. * Journal of Gerontological Social Work *This second edition of a splendid book explores the pervasiveness of loss in multiple forms (death and non-death). The authors examine loss in terms of a range of theoretical understandings and provide approaches to intervention that consider social, cultural, and environmental contexts and influences. This is a rich addition to the consideration of loss. -- Allan Cole, author of Good Mourning: Getting Through Your GriefAt a time when people are reeling from the many losses dealt by the pandemic, the second edition of this book could not be timelier. The life span approach taken and interventions provided for each life stage impart a wealth of critical information and guidance to current and future clinicians. -- Tracy A. Schroepfer, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLiving Through Loss is an important, timely, and compelling book that presents an evolved perspective of the universal experiences of loss and grief. This book is authentic, grounded, and written from the authors’ deep awareness and knowledge—leading the reader to a richer understanding of loss across the life course. -- Deborah Waldrop, University at BuffaloUniquely, the authors interweave professional and scholarly knowledge with personal experience. As a clinician and teacher, I found myself tallying up my own losses and acknowledging reverberations of old sorrows. The overall effect is a sense of being grounded in the midst of great complexity—a gift both to the scholar and the clinician. -- Wendy Lustbader, author of Counting on Kindness: The Dilemmas of DependencyTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Theoretical Perspectives on Grief2. The Grief Process and Types of Grief3. Resilience and Meaning-Making4. Loss and Grief in Childhood5. Interventions for Grieving Children6. Loss and Grief in Adolescence7. Interventions for Grieving Adolescents8. Loss and Grief in Young Adulthood9. Interventions for Grieving Young Adults10. Loss and Grief in Middle Adulthood11. Interventions for Grieving Midlife Adults12. Loss and Grief in Old Age13. Interventions for Grieving Older Adults14. Professional Self-Awareness and Self-CareNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisAN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICKTHE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER -- FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN''T STOP TALKINGAmazing and profound . . . every single person should read it Johann HariMoving and eloquent Sunday TimesWhether you long for the partner who broke up with you, or the one you dream of meeting; whether you hunger for the happy childhood you''ll never have, or for the divine; whether you yearn for a lost person, an unborn child, the fountain of youth, or unconditional love: These are all manifestations of the same great ache...In this inspiring and genre-bending work, Susan Cain - author of the international bestseller Quiet - shows us the power of a bittersweet outlook: the overlooked tendency to states of longing and poignancy, and a piercing joy at the beauty of the world.Embracing the bittersweet means understanding that light and dark, birth and death - bitter and sweet - are forever paired, and that by recognising this we can find the true path to creativity and connection.Bringing to light the ideas of artists, writers and thinkers from all over the world, and her own quest for answers over the course of a lifetime, Susan Cain fundamentally shifts our understanding of life by teaching us how to turn sorrow into an enriching superpower.Trade ReviewI'll place Bittersweet in the hands of all my feely, achy, beautiful friends -- Glennon Doyle, author of #1 NYT bestseller UntamedSusan Cain's Bittersweet grabs you by the heart and doesn't let go -- Brené Brown, author of the NYT bestseller Atlas of the HeartThis is the rare book that doesn't just open your eyes - it touches your heart and sings to your soul -- Adam Grant, #1 NYT bestselling author of Think AgainThis book is an absolute triumph: it's for anyone who has ever really lived, loved, or lost -- Greg McKeown, author of NYT bestsellers Effortless and EssentialismAn amazing and profound book . . . every single person should read it -- Johann Hari, bestselling author of Stolen Focus

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHerbert G. Gutman Award, Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA), 2009. "Through portraits of industrial accidents, political funerals, and burial rituals, this compelling reinterpretation of working-class culture and the making of labor solidarity highlights how bodies in their gendered, class, and ethnic valences matter--in death as well as life."--Eileen Boris, Hull Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara"A tantalizing and well-researched glimpse into the rituals of death for workers whose lives held little value outside their own communities in industrializing America."--Annals of Iowa"Rosenow is to be congratulated on his mastery of diverse literatures and his rigorous argument. Death and Dying in the Working Class, 1865-1920 demonstrates that wageworker's rituals--and the industrial violence that engendered them--were foundational to the formation of working-class identities and organizations."--American Historical Review"In his thoughtfully conceived and clearly developed study, Michael K. Rosenow shows that in death as in life, American workers existed on anything but a level playing field."--The Journal of American History"For scholars seeking insight into the formation of class identity among the industrial workforce and an intellectually creative use of methodologies to examine the links between religion, ethnicity, and class, Rosenow's study provides an evocative study of social transformation as well as introducing a rich field for further research."--H-Net"This award-winning book (it won the Herbert G. Gutman Prize from the Labor and Working Class History Association) helps us understand the complex ways the working class has responded to death on the job and expands our notions of American ways of caring for—and about—the dead."--Journal of Social History"Rosenow's book offers rich insight into how the working class of the early twentieth century approached death within their historical and situational context."--Working USA"Engaging, thoughtful, and very readable . . . It adds to our knowledge of how Americans responded to the changes brought by industrialization in the second half of the nineteenth century."--Robert V. Wells, author of Life Flows On in Endless Song: Folk Songs and American History "Rosenow usefully extends a now-rich literature on American memorial practices to the northern industrial working classes from the Civil War to World War I. . . . This pioneering study deserves wide attention."--Leon Fink, author of Sweatshops at Sea: Merchant Seamen in the World's First Globalized Industry, from 1812 to the Present

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHerbert G. Gutman Award, Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA), 2009. "Through portraits of industrial accidents, political funerals, and burial rituals, this compelling reinterpretation of working-class culture and the making of labor solidarity highlights how bodies in their gendered, class, and ethnic valences matter--in death as well as life."--Eileen Boris, Hull Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara"A tantalizing and well-researched glimpse into the rituals of death for workers whose lives held little value outside their own communities in industrializing America."--Annals of Iowa"Rosenow is to be congratulated on his mastery of diverse literatures and his rigorous argument. Death and Dying in the Working Class, 1865-1920 demonstrates that wageworker's rituals--and the industrial violence that engendered them--were foundational to the formation of working-class identities and organizations."--American Historical Review"In his thoughtfully conceived and clearly developed study, Michael K. Rosenow shows that in death as in life, American workers existed on anything but a level playing field."--The Journal of American History"For scholars seeking insight into the formation of class identity among the industrial workforce and an intellectually creative use of methodologies to examine the links between religion, ethnicity, and class, Rosenow's study provides an evocative study of social transformation as well as introducing a rich field for further research."--H-Net"This award-winning book (it won the Herbert G. Gutman Prize from the Labor and Working Class History Association) helps us understand the complex ways the working class has responded to death on the job and expands our notions of American ways of caring for—and about—the dead."--Journal of Social History"Rosenow's book offers rich insight into how the working class of the early twentieth century approached death within their historical and situational context."--Working USA"Engaging, thoughtful, and very readable . . . It adds to our knowledge of how Americans responded to the changes brought by industrialization in the second half of the nineteenth century."--Robert V. Wells, author of Life Flows On in Endless Song: Folk Songs and American History "Rosenow usefully extends a now-rich literature on American memorial practices to the northern industrial working classes from the Civil War to World War I. . . . This pioneering study deserves wide attention."--Leon Fink, author of Sweatshops at Sea: Merchant Seamen in the World's First Globalized Industry, from 1812 to the Present

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWe Americans prize independence, but for many elderly people, the price they pay for independence is loneliness and worthlessness. The Big Move is a fascinating attempt to marry personal experience with academic analysis to help us all reconceive of one option for later-life living. Moving to a continuing care retirement community need not be viewed as a withdrawal from life, but rather as a new platform to manage one's infirmities at the same time as one uses one's skills. * Huffington Post *This is a remarkable book about finding the right place to age. It uses a single true story, refracted through personal experience and multiple forms of expertise, to say as much as piles of data. You'll want to read it if you're looking for clear advice about the big move into continuing care, assisted living, even a nursing home. And it's appealing for anyone along the life course making "a big move." This book gives the perspective that is so often missing. It's a story not often told and too often dreaded. It tackles the broader social issue of how to age well and treat elders well on an irresistibly human scale. -- Sally Chivers, Professor of English Literature * Trent University *We have very few accounts of gerontologists who have grown old, and never before a memoir by a gerontologist who moved into a long-term care facility. This book is not only a first, but is a remarkable and riveting account of challenges all of us must contemplate. The author's own story is amplified by insights from other contributors to this volume, which altogether make it memorable and compelling. Highly recommended. -- Rick Moody, retired Vice President for Academic Affairs * AARP *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Home Places / Ruth Ray Karpen1. A Wife's Life, A Humanist's Journey, 2010-2012 / Anne Wyatt-Brown2. Coming to Care / Ruth Ray Karpen3. Lifelong Strengths Ground Later-Life Wisdom / Helen Q. KivnickAfterword: Making Oneself at Home / Margaret Morganroth GulletteEpilogue: Still on the Journey, 2012-2015 / Anne Wyatt-BrownAnnotated Bibliography Fiction / Margaret M. Gullette Mostly Non-Fiction / Helen Q. Kivnick, Ruth Ray Karpen, Anne Wyatt-Brown

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewFuneral Culture offers a detailed ethnography of funerals in South African Swaziland, and scholars and students alike can breathe fresh air with this comparison of the neo-funeral cultural changes amongst the Southern African countries. * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsNote on TransliterationIntroduction Funeral Culture: Dignity, Work, and Cultural Change Chapter 1 Reckoning Life: Dying from AIDS to Living with HIVChapter 2 Religious Healing and Resurrection: "Faith Without Work is Dead"Chapter 3 The Secrets of Life Insurance: Savings, Care, and the WitchChapter 4 Grounded: Body Politics of Burial and CremationChapter 5 Life in a Takeaway Box: Mobility and Purity in Funeral Feasts Chapter 6 Commemoration and Cultural Change: Memento RadicalisConclusion The Afterlives of WorkAppendixI. siSwati-American English GlossaryII. List of AbbreviationsReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisProbes into the meaning of death and into the human capacity for suicide or voluntary death. This book presents an analysis of the state of mind of those who are suicidal and who actually do commit suicide.Trade Review"On Suicide seeks to explore the state of mind those who are suicidal. It moves beyond the science to plumb the depths and explore the contradictions of the person facing such angst... The closed and dark is seen from within and for that it is immensely moving and fascinating."--The Expository Times, May, 2000 "On Suicide seeks to explore the state of mind those who are suicidal. It moves beyond the science to plumb the depths and explore the contradictions of the person facing such angst... The closed and dark is seen from within and for that it is immensely moving and fascinating."--The Expository Times, May, 2000Table of ContentsTranslator's PrefaceTranslator's IntroductionPrefaceI. Before the LeapII. How Natural is Death?III. To Lay Hands on OneselfIV. Belonging to OneselfV. The Road to the OpenNotes

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Book SynopsisThe fortieth-anniversary edition of a classic and prescient work on death and dying.Much of today's literature on end-of-life issues overlooks the importance of 1970s social movements in shaping our understanding of death, dying, and the dead body. This anniversary edition of Lyn Lofland's The Craft of Dying begins to repair this omission. Lofland identifies, critiques, and theorizes 1970s death movements, including the Death Acceptance Movement, the Death with Dignity Movement, and the Natural Death movement. All these groups attempted to transform death into a “positive experience,” anticipating much of today's death and dying activism. Lofland turns a sociologist's eye on the era's increased interest in death, considering, among other things, the components of the modern “face of death” and the “craft of dying,” the construction of a dying role or identity by those who are dying, and the constraints on their freedom to do t

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Book SynopsisHow digital technology—from Facebook tributes to QR codes on headstones—is changing our relationship to death.Facebook is the biggest cemetery in the world, with countless acres of cyberspace occupied by snapshots, videos, thoughts, and memories of people who have shared their last status updates. Modern society usually hides death from sight, as if it were a character flaw and not an ineluctable fact. But on Facebook and elsewhere on the internet, we can't avoid death; digital ghosts—electronic traces of the dead—appear at our click or touch. On the Internet at least, death has once again become a topic for public discourse. In Online Afterlives, Davide Sisto considers how digital technology is changing our relationship to death.Sisto describes the various modes of digital survival after biological death—including Facebook tributes, chatbots programmed to speak in the voice of a dead person, and QR codes on headstones—and dis

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Book SynopsisAn examination of the contemporary medicalization of death and dying that calls us to acknowledge instead death's existential and emotional realities.Death is a natural, inevitable, and deeply human process, and yet Western medicine tends to view it as a medical failure. In their zeal to prevent death, physicians and hospitals often set patients and their families on a seemingly unstoppable trajectory toward medical interventions that may actually increase suffering at the end of life. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series examines the medicalization of death and dying and proposes a different approach--one that acknowledges death's existential and emotional realities.The authors--one an academic who teaches and studies end-of-life care, and the other a physician trained in hospice and palliative care--offer an account of Western-style death and dying that is informed by both research and personal experience. They examine the medical profession's at

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Book SynopsisDespite the fact that we all die, humans do not share the same view of death. In Death: A Reader, Mary Ann G. Cutter explores prominent themes that emerge and reemerge in the history of ideas regarding the nature of death from prominent global perspectives that span ancient to contemporary discussions. Thirteen themes are presented in order to convey a sense of major views of death that are found in the philosophical and sacred literature of Asia, the Near and Middle East, and the West. Each chapter contains the context of the theme, primary source selections, reflections, and suggestions for further reading.Four features of this volume distinguish it from other philosophical texts on death. First, Cutter provides a culturally diverse selection of primary source readings on the nature of death. Second, along with the more traditional discussions of death, she provides discussion on emerging topics in death studiesnamely, medical immortality and digital immortality. ThiTrade Review"Death affects everyone, but it can be difficult to have a conversation about it. Death: A Reader is a way to begin that conversation, even if just with yourself. The book's goal is to compile different ideas about death, and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions." —Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine"This book is a stunningly comprehensive collection of readings, insightful analyses, and thoughtful questions and exercises on a broad range of topics related to death. It will be a tremendous resource for anyone who writes, teaches, or cares about death." —Ana Iltis, Wake Forest University"Death: A Reader offers culturally, conceptually, and temporally diverse readings that provide rich and profound ways to consider the inevitable." —Lisa Rasmussen, University of North Carolina, Charlotte“This book provides a fine introductory review of global understandings about death. Cutter includes primary source excerpts dating from 8000 BCE to 2016, including Eastern and Western sacred writings and philosophical thought.” —Choice"Death is an event that all human beings face in their lives, both vicariously in the deaths of other persons and personally in their own death. . . . Death: A Reader offers a good, culturally and philosophically balanced first point of entry to exploring various philosophical and religious perspectives on death." —Catholic Library WorldTable of ContentsPreface 1. Thinking About Death Part 1. The Nature of Death 2. Physical Disintegration 3. Psychological Disintegration 4. Reincarnation 5. Resurrection 6. Medical Immortality 7. Digital Immortality 8. An Existential Phenomenon of Life Part 2. The Value of Death 9.Bad or Good 10. To Be Feared or Not 11. To Be Grieved and How Part 3. The Choice of Death 12.To Be Hastened or Not: The Case of Suicide 13. To Be Hastened or Not: The Case of Treatment Refusal 14. To Be Hastened or Not: The Case of Physician-Assisted Suicide Part 4. The Lessons of Death 15. A Window into Life Glossary of Philosophical Terms References Notes

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“In this important and provocative book, the editors and authors make a compelling case for a much needed ‘ethics of aging’ that holistically addresses the unique character of the aging process and its role in defining a ‘good life.’” —Daniel B. Hinshaw, MD, author of Touch and the Healing of the World“Old age is presented as a question, asked from diverse perspectives. As readers view old age as a construction of medical policies, a philosophical puzzle, and a network of altruistic friends, they will be drawn in to ask what to call this period of life, how to respond to it, and ultimately how to live it.” —Arthur W. Frank, author of The Wounded Storyteller"Insights from The Evening of Life are both comforting and illuminating in discussions regarding the present and future of aging and the end of life." —Hastings Center Report"According to St. Paul, we will receive a transformed body that will make up for the current one's deficiencies, which are likely to be many if we have been fortunate enough to reach the old age whose gifts and challenges these authors so intelligently and sensitively explore." —Studies in Christian EthicsThose with a professional or personal interest in improving care for aging and dying adults will certainly find helpful insights within this book’s chapters. -Journal of Applied Gerontology

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“In this important and provocative book, the editors and authors make a compelling case for a much needed ‘ethics of aging’ that holistically addresses the unique character of the aging process and its role in defining a ‘good life.’” —Daniel B. Hinshaw, MD, author of Touch and the Healing of the World“Old age is presented as a question, asked from diverse perspectives. As readers view old age as a construction of medical policies, a philosophical puzzle, and a network of altruistic friends, they will be drawn in to ask what to call this period of life, how to respond to it, and ultimately how to live it.” —Arthur W. Frank, author of The Wounded Storyteller"Insights from The Evening of Life are both comforting and illuminating in discussions regarding the present and future of aging and the end of life." —Hastings Center Report"According to St. Paul, we will receive a transformed body that will make up for the current one's deficiencies, which are likely to be many if we have been fortunate enough to reach the old age whose gifts and challenges these authors so intelligently and sensitively explore." —Studies in Christian EthicsThose with a professional or personal interest in improving care for aging and dying adults will certainly find helpful insights within this book’s chapters. -Journal of Applied Gerontology

Read more less