The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries

by Marilyn Johnson

Obituaries are history as it is happening. Whose time am I living in? Was he a success or a failure, lucky or doomed, older than I am or younger? Did she know how to live? Where else can you celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess? No wonder so many readers skip the news and the sports and go directly to the obituary page. This book is the story of how these stories get told. Enthralled by the fascinating lives that were marching out of this world, Marilyn Johnson tumbled into the obits page to find out what made it so lively. She sought out the best obits in the English language and chased the people who spent their lives writing about the dead.--From publisher description.

• ISBN10: 0061850365
• ISBN13: 9780061850363
• Publish Date: 13 October 2009 (first published 28 February 2006)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: HarperCollins eBooks
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Eve1972]

I guess it is true, you really do learn something new everyday. I had no idea that there were people specifically paid to write obituary's for newspapers or that they had their very own convention. A fascinating and interesting read for sure.