The Whole Death Catalog

The Whole Death Catalog PDF Author: Harold Schechter
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345512510
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
In the tradition of Mary Roach’s bestselling Stiff and Jessica Mitford’s classic exposé The American Way of Death comes this meticulously researched, refreshingly irreverent, and lavishly illustrated look at death from acclaimed author Harold Schechter. With his trademark fearlessness and bracing sense of humor, Schechter digs deep into a wealth of sources to unearth a treasure trove of surprising facts, amusing anecdotes, practical information, and timeless wisdom about that undiscovered country to which we will all one day travel. Topics include • Death anxiety–is your fear of death normal or off the scale? • You can’t take it with you . . . or can you? Wacky wills and bizarre bequests • The hospice experience–going out in comfort and style • Deathbed and funeral etiquette–how to help the dying and mourn the dead with dignity • Death on demand–why the right-to-die movement may be the next big thing • “Good-bye everybody”–famous last words • The embalmer’s art–all dressed up and nowhere to go • Behind the scenes at your local funeral home • Alternative burial choices–from coral reefs to outer space From the cold, hard facts of death to lessons in the art of dying well, from what happens in the body’s last living moments to what transpires in the ground or in the furnace, from near-death experiences to speculation on the afterlife, The Whole Death Catalog leaves no gravestone unturned.

The Whole Death Catalog

The Whole Death Catalog PDF Author: Harold Schechter
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345512510
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the tradition of Mary Roach’s bestselling Stiff and Jessica Mitford’s classic exposé The American Way of Death comes this meticulously researched, refreshingly irreverent, and lavishly illustrated look at death from acclaimed author Harold Schechter. With his trademark fearlessness and bracing sense of humor, Schechter digs deep into a wealth of sources to unearth a treasure trove of surprising facts, amusing anecdotes, practical information, and timeless wisdom about that undiscovered country to which we will all one day travel. Topics include • Death anxiety–is your fear of death normal or off the scale? • You can’t take it with you . . . or can you? Wacky wills and bizarre bequests • The hospice experience–going out in comfort and style • Deathbed and funeral etiquette–how to help the dying and mourn the dead with dignity • Death on demand–why the right-to-die movement may be the next big thing • “Good-bye everybody”–famous last words • The embalmer’s art–all dressed up and nowhere to go • Behind the scenes at your local funeral home • Alternative burial choices–from coral reefs to outer space From the cold, hard facts of death to lessons in the art of dying well, from what happens in the body’s last living moments to what transpires in the ground or in the furnace, from near-death experiences to speculation on the afterlife, The Whole Death Catalog leaves no gravestone unturned.

Postmortem Collectibles

Postmortem Collectibles PDF Author: C. L. Miller
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764313301
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
This book provides a pictorial review of the customs dealing with the final disposition of loved ones. A remarkable array of collectible items includes embalming products and instruments, photographs of funeral homes and funeral processions, promotional materials, postcards, and an outstanding collection of original postmortem photographs. Text covers caskets, floral arrangements, burial garments, mourning etiquette, and more. Values included in the captions.

Women and the Material Culture of Death

Women and the Material Culture of Death PDF Author: BethFowkes Tobin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135153680X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
Examining the compelling and often poignant connection between women and the material culture of death, this collection focuses on the objects women make, the images they keep, the practices they use or are responsible for, and the places they inhabit and construct through ritual and custom. Women?s material practices, ranging from wearing mourning jewelry to dressing the dead, stitching memorial samplers to constructing skull boxes, collecting funeral programs to collecting and studying diseased hearts, making and collecting taxidermies, and making sculptures honoring the death, are explored in this collection as well as women?s affective responses and sentimental labor that mark their expected and unexpected participation in the social practices surrounding death and the dead. The largely invisible work involved in commemorating and constructing narratives and memorials about the dead-from family members and friends to national figures-calls attention to the role women as memory keepers for families, local communities, and the nation. Women have tended to work collaboratively, making, collecting, and sharing objects that conveyed sentiments about the deceased, whether human or animal, as well as the identity of mourners. Death is about loss, and many of the mourning practices that women have traditionally and are currently engaged in are about dealing with private grief and public loss as well as working to mitigate the more general anxiety that death engenders about the impermanence of life.

Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils

Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils PDF Author: Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins
Publisher: Gettysburg Publishing
ISBN: 1734627611
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 57

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Book Description
During the 19th century, death shadowed daily life. A high infant mortality rate, poor sanitation, risk during childbirth, poisons, ignorance, and war kept 19th-century Americans busy practicing the ritual of mourning. The Victorian era in both Europe and America saw these rituals elevated to an art form expressing not only grief, but also religious feeling, social obligation, and even mourning fashion. Complete with period illustrations, Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils explores how Victorians viewed death and dying as a result of the profound historical events of their time. This concise, informative work is ideal for students of Victorian-era culture and Civil War enthusiasts.

Gone to the Grave

Gone to the Grave PDF Author: Abby Burnett
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1626743428
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
Before there was a death care industry where professional funeral directors offered embalming and other services, residents of the Arkansas Ozarks—and, for that matter, people throughout the South—buried their own dead. Every part of the complicated, labor-intensive process was handled within the deceased's community. This process included preparation of the body for burial, making a wooden coffin, digging the grave, and overseeing the burial ceremony, as well as observing a wide variety of customs and superstitions. These traditions, especially in rural communities, remained the norm up through the end of World War II, after which a variety of factors, primarily the loss of manpower and the rise of the funeral industry, brought about the end of most customs. Gone to the Grave, a meticulous autopsy of this now vanished way of life and death, documents mourning and practical rituals through interviews, diaries and reminiscences, obituaries, and a wide variety of other sources. Abby Burnett covers attempts to stave off death; passings that, for various reasons, could not be mourned according to tradition; factors contributing to high maternal and infant mortality; and the ways in which loss was expressed though obituaries and epitaphs. A concluding chapter examines early undertaking practices and the many angles funeral industry professionals worked to convince the public of the need for their services.

Postmortem Planning and Estate Administration

Postmortem Planning and Estate Administration PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Estate planning
Languages : en
Pages : 734

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Book Description


The Culture and Art of Death in 19th Century America

The Culture and Art of Death in 19th Century America PDF Author: D. Tulla Lightfoot
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476635188
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Nineteenth-century Victorian-era mourning rituals--long and elaborate public funerals, the wearing of lavishly somber mourning clothes, and families posing for portraits with deceased loved ones--are often depicted as bizarre or scary. But behind many such customs were rational or spiritual meanings. This book offers an in-depth explanation at how death affected American society and the creative ways in which people responded to it. The author discusses such topics as mediums as performance artists and postmortem painters and photographers, and draws a connection between death and the emergence of three-dimensional media.

Markers

Markers PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cemeteries
Languages : en
Pages : 776

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Book Description


Warman's Americana & Collectibles

Warman's Americana & Collectibles PDF Author: Harry L. Rinker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780870697425
Category : Americana
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description


Mount Calvary Cemetery

Mount Calvary Cemetery PDF Author: C. L. Miller
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738552057
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Mount Calvary Cemetery's 40 acres of sprawling land has been the final resting place of prominent citizens, religious figures, and even the notorious for over 142 years. Many of those interred here were Catholic immigrants that settled in Columbus long before it became the city of a million people. They built homes, established businesses, and sought a higher level of education, becoming lawyers, politicians, doctors, and businessmen. One became "the voice of the 1920s," and several streets throughout the city were named after others. For every image carved in majestic stone or simple marker engraved with a name and date, there is the untold story of an individual who made Columbus the great city it is today.