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 Choosing a Career in Mortuary Science and the Funeral Industry written by Nancy L. Stair and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2001-12-15 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores career opportunities for those interested in becoming a funeral director, embalmer, coroner, medical examiner, or pathologist.

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 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 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 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 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 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 289 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 Funeral Industry Practice s Proposed Trade Regulation Rule and Staff Memorandum written by United States. Federal Trade Commission 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 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 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 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 The Death Care Industry written by Roberta Hughes Wright and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Preserved written by Dean G. Lampros and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2024-03-26 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A spirited look at how funeral homes impacted American consumerism, the built environment, and national identities. Funeral homes—those grand, aging mansions repurposed into spaces for embalming, merchandising, funeral services, and housing for the funeral director and their family—are immediately recognizable features of the American landscape, and yet the history of how these spaces emerged remains largely untold. In Preserved, Dean Lampros uses the history of this uniquely American architectural icon to explore the twentieth century's expanding consumer landscape and reveal how buildings can help construct identities. Across the United States, Lampros traces the funeral industry's early twentieth-century exodus from gloomy downtown undertaking parlors to outmoded Victorian houses in residential districts. As savvy retailers and accidental preservationists, funeral directors refashioned the interiors into sumptuous retail settings that stimulated consumer demand for luxury burial goods. These spaces allowed for more privacy and more parking, and they helped turn Americans away from traditional home funerals toward funeral homes instead. Moreover, by moving into neighborhoods that were once the domain of white elites, African American funeral directors uplifted their industry and altered the landscape of white supremacy. The funeral home has tracked major changes in American culture, including an increased reliance on the automobile and the rise of consumer culture. Preserved offers an in-depth cultural history of a space that is both instantly familiar and largely misunderstood.

Download or read book The Price of Death written by Hikaru Suzuki and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2002-02-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Funerary practices have long been a classic topic of anthropological inquiry, which has tended to focus on death rituals as expressions and reinforcers of community ties and values. In this book, the author looks at funerals as an urban business, based on her fieldwork at a large Japanese funeral company. Her central theme is the progressive commercialization of what once were primarily religious rituals. The book depicts the process of contemporary Japanese funerals, the practices of those who provide commercial funeral services, and the motivations and behavior of the mourners who purchase those services. In so doing, it examines the role of funeral companies in shaping Japanese cultural practices and changing an important aspect of Japanese society. The author addresses several related questions: What cultural changes accompanied the shift from traditional community funeral rituals to commercial funeral services? How did the mass consumption of commercial funerals produce cultural homogeneity while allowing for differences in individual services? How does the marketing of professional funeral services mediate changing cultural values? How have commercial services served to objectify changing concepts of dying, death, and the deceased in contemporary Japan? The author demonstrates that the funeral industry, the purchasers of funeral services, and Japanese values surrounding death are mutually dependent and are responsible for supporting, representing, and transforming cultural practices. Throughout, the author relates vivid and often moving details and anecdotes to lend a personal element to her study of the commodification of death in Japan.

Download or read book To Serve the Living written by Suzanne E. Smith and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For African Americans, death was never simply the end of life, and funerals were not just places to mourn. In the "hush harbors" of the slave quarters, African Americans first used funerals to bury their dead and to plan a path to freedom. Similarly, throughout the long - and often violent - struggle for racial equality in the twentieth century, funeral directors aided the cause by honoring the dead while supporting the living. To Serve the Living offers a fascinating history of how African American funeral directors have been integral to the fight for freedom.