Download or read book The American Way of Death Revisited written by Jessica Mitford and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-11-23 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only the scathing wit and searching intelligence of Jessica Mitford could turn an exposé of the American funeral industry into a book that is at once deadly serious and side-splittingly funny. When first published in 1963, this landmark of investigative journalism became a runaway bestseller and resulted in legislation to protect grieving families from the unscrupulous sales practices of those in "the dismal trade." Just before her death in 1996, Mitford thoroughly revised and updated her classic study. The American Way of Death Revisited confronts new trends, including the success of the profession's lobbyists in Washington, inflated cremation costs, the telemarketing of pay-in-advance graves, and the effects of monopolies in a death-care industry now dominated by multinational corporations. With its hard-nosed consumer activism and a satiric vision out of Evelyn Waugh's novel The Loved One, The American Way of Death Revisited will not fail to inform, delight, and disturb. "Brilliant--hilarious. . . . A must-read for anyone planning to throw a funeral in their lifetime."--New York Post "Witty and penetrating--it speaks the truth."--The Washington Post

Download or read book Grave Matters written by Mark Harris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-12-09 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the embalming process and the impact the standard funeral has on the environment while also discussing alternative eco-friendly burials.

Download or read book Confessions of a Funeral Director written by Caleb Wilde and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The blogger behind Confessions of a Funeral Director—what Time magazine called a "must read"—reflects on mortality and the powerful lessons death holds for every one of us in this compassionate and thoughtful spiritual memoir that combines the humor and insight of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with the poignancy and brevity of When Breath Becomes Air. We are a people who deeply fear death. While humans are biologically wired to evade death for as long as possible, we have become too adept at hiding from it, vilifying it, and—when it can be avoided no longer—letting the professionals take over. Sixth-generation funeral director Caleb Wilde understands this reticence and fear. He had planned to get as far away from the family business as possible. He wanted to make a difference in the world, and how could he do that if all the people he worked with were . . . dead? Slowly, he discovered that caring for the deceased and their loved ones was making a difference—in other people’s lives to be sure, but it also seemed to be saving his own. A spirituality of death began to emerge as he observed: The family who lovingly dressed their deceased father for his burial The act of embalming a little girl that offered a gift back to her grieving family The nursing home that honored a woman’s life by standing in procession as her body was taken away The funeral that united a conflicted community Through stories like these, told with equal parts humor and poignancy, Wilde offers an intimate look into the business and a new perspective on living and dying

Download or read book The American Way of Death written by JESSICA MITFORD and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Funeral Industry Practices written by United States. Federal Trade Commission. Bureau of Consumer Protection and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Funeral Industry written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Funeral Industry Practices written by United States. Federal Trade Commission. Bureau of Consumer Protection and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Funeral Industry Practices written by United States. Federal Trade Commission. Bureau of Consumer Protection. Division of Special Projects and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Antitrust Aspects of the Funeral Industry written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Antitrust Aspects of the Funeral Industry written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Evolution of the British Funeral Industry in the 20th Century written by Brian Parsons and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-28 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the shifts that have taken place in the funeral industry since 1900, focusing on the figure of the undertaker and exploring how organizational change and attempts to gain recognition as a professional service provider saw the role morph into that of 'funeral director'.

Download or read book Winning Ways The Funeral Profession s Guide to Human Relations written by Todd W. Van Beck and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 1998-08-04 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. Written for the funeral service industry by a funeral service professional, this unique book teaches effective methods of interacting with people.

Download or read book From Here to Eternity Traveling the World to Find the Good Death written by Caitlin Doughty and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times and Los Angeles Times Bestseller “Doughty chronicles [death] practices with tenderheartedness, a technician’s fascination, and an unsentimental respect for grief.” —Jill Lepore, The New Yorker Fascinated by our pervasive fear of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty embarks on a global expedition to discover how other cultures care for the dead. From Zoroastrian sky burials to wish-granting Bolivian skulls, she investigates the world’s funerary customs and expands our sense of what it means to treat the dead with dignity. Her account questions the rituals of the American funeral industry—especially chemical embalming—and suggests that the most effective traditions are those that allow mourners to personally attend to the body of the deceased. Exquisitely illustrated by artist Landis Blair, From Here to Eternity is an adventure into the morbid unknown, a fascinating tour through the unique ways people everywhere confront mortality.

Download or read book Profits of Death written by Darryl J. Roberts and published by Five Star Publishing (MI). This book was released on 1997 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the expose that still has the funeral and cemetery industries reeling from aftershocks. Industry insider Darryl J. Roberts uncovers how the death care industry manipulates consumers into overspending at the most vulnerable time of their lives. He also tells readers everything they need to know about making final arrangements--including how to save up to 50% in costs.

Download or read book Rest in Peace written by Gary Laderman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-03-06 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though it has often been passionately criticized--as fraudulent, exploitative, even pagan--the American funeral home has become nearly as inevitable as death itself, an institution firmly embedded in our culture. But how did the funeral home come to hold such a position? What is its history? And is it guilty of the charges sometimes leveled against it? In Rest in Peace, Gary Laderman traces the origins of American funeral rituals, from the evolution of embalming techniques during and after the Civil War and the shift from home funerals to funeral homes at the turn of the century, to the increasing subordination of priests, ministers, and other religious figures to the funeral director throughout the twentieth century. In doing so he shows that far from manipulating vulnerable mourners, as Jessica Mitford claimed in her best-selling The American Way of Death (1963), funeral directors are highly respected figures whose services reflect the community's deepest needs and wishes. Indeed, Laderman shows that funeral directors generally give the people what they want when it is time to bury our dead. He reveals, for example, that the open casket, often criticized as barbaric, provides a deeply meaningful moment for friends and family who must say goodbye to their loved one. But he also shows how the dead often come back to life in the popular imagination to disturb the peace of the living. Drawing upon interviews with funeral directors, major historical events like the funerals of John F. Kennedy and Rudolf Valentino, films, television, newspaper reports, proposals for funeral reform, and other primary sources, Rest in Peace cuts through the rhetoric to show us the reality--and the real cultural value--of the American funeral.

Download or read book Curtains written by Tom Jokinen and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-09 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At forty-four, Tom Jokinen decided to quit his job in order to become an apprentice undertaker, setting out to ask the questions: What is the right thing to do when someone dies? With the marketplace offering new options (go green, go anti-corporate, go Disney, be packed into an artificial reef and dropped in the Atlantic...), is there still room for tradition? In a year of adventures both hair-raising and hilarious, Jokinen finds a world that is radically changed since Jessica Mitford revisedThe American Way of Death, more surprising thanSix Feet Under, and even funnier and more illuminating thanStiff.If Bill Bryson were to apprentice at a funeral home, searching for the meaning of life and death, you’d haveCurtains.

Download or read book The Good Funeral Guide written by Charles Cowling and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-05-20 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Good Funeral Guide is the first ever independent consumer guide to the funeral industry. It is for anyone who: - needs to arrange a funeral for someone now - has sick or elderly relatives or friends and knows that a funeral is imminent - wants to find a good funeral director and have some say in the funeral itself - wants to make future arrangements for their own funeral - would like to learn about deaths and funerals Authoritative, impartial and empowering, it is indispensable for those who don't want a conventional religious ceremony and invaluable for those who do. This is a book we will all need - probably at least twice.