Explore the many fascinating nineteenth century traditions associated with death and mourning. The widespread influence of England's Queen Victoria perpetuated displays of grieving as she, her court, and loyal subjects remained in a state of mourning for over forty years. Over 300 color photographs display jewelry, photography and painted portraits, children's, men's, and women's clothes; poems, letters of sympathy, armbands, procession badges, hair receivers, announcements, and horse-drawn vehicles that were specifically associated with death customs. Symbolism in written phrases, flowers, and objects is presented and many examples are shown. Over 70 pages of a Victorian hair jewelry catalog are included, showing hundreds of designs that could be ordered as keepsakes, often using your own hair. Today's collectors of friendship and mourning memorabilia can expect to see antique items that not only speak of comfort and solace in times of need but continue to appreciate in value.

Death strips away all of the superficial and mundane details of living and leaves behind life's bare essentials. Death is inevitable in life. It knows no boundaries. It knows no skin color, no financial or social standing. It knows nothing but itself. The paradox of Dying Declarations: Notes from a Hospice Volunteer is in its warm affirmation of life through the 'dying declarations' of patients who are peering into the cold face of death. The author reveals personal experiences about life, death, and the courage to strip away the unimportant aspects of life to make way for a clearer understanding on just what is truly important. Simple, moving stories invigorate and spark insightswhile discussing all aspects of hospice volunteering. By facing death on a regular basis, one can no longer maintain a tight grip on the masks, games, and trivialities that one uses to hide from truth. The person who looks death in the eye becomes more honest, grateful, compassionate, and humble. In Dying Declarations: Notes from a Hospice Volunteer, the author shares his experiences and the lessons he learned from the dying while working as a hospice volunteer. The stories, rather than being sad and depressing, present the author's hospice experience as being some of the most personally uplifting and enriching experiences of his life. In Dying Declarations: Notes from a Hospice Volunteer you will learn: about training for hospice work why hospice volunteers are at times more beneficial to the well-being of dying patients than family, clergy, or medical personnel the three basic tasks for a hospice volunteer how children and dogs can be beneficial for patients the impact that a dying patient can have on the life of a hospice volunteer words of wisdom about living life, directly from hospice patients Dying Declarations: Notes from a Hospice Volunteer will inspire and enlighten hospice volunteers, nurses, physicians, clergy, social workers or anyone who works for hospice or provides end-of-life care.

The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying provides a comprehensive, up to date, and readable introduction to the study of death and dying. It directs attention to the evolving understanding of death and dying in today's culturally diverse environment. In a straightforward, conversational style, with an extensively illustrated format, The Last Dance provides a solid grounding in theory and research as well as in methods for applying what is learned to readers' own circumstances, both personal and professional. No other textbook so successfully combines the research and theories of such diverse disciplines as anthropology, art, ethics, health science, literature, philosophy, psychology, public policy, religion, and sociology. The eleventh edition of The Last Dance includes coverage of key topics yet retains the focus, writing, and pedagogy instructors have come to expect from the best-selling text in death studies. Instructors and students can now access their course content through the Connect digital learning platform by purchasing either standalone Connect access or a bundle of print and Connect access. McGraw-Hill Connect (R) is a subscription-based learning service accessible online through your personal computer or tablet. Choose this option if your instructor will require Connect to be used in the course. Complete system requirements to use Connect can be found here: http://www.mheducation.com/highered/platforms/connect/training-support-students.html

Based on the Thomas More Lectures John Dunne delivered at Yale University in 1971, Time and Myth analyzes man's confrontation with the inevitability of death in the cultural, personal, and religious spheres, viewing each as a particular kind of myth shaped by the impact of time. With penetrating simplicity the author poses the timeless dilemma of the human condition and seeks to resolve it through stories of adventures, journeys, and voyages inspired by man's encounter with death; stories of childhood, youth, manhood, and age; and, finally, stories of God and of man wrestling with God and the unknown.

The definitive reference on the anthropology of death and dying, expanded with new contributions covering everything from animal mourning to mortuary cannibalism Few subjects stir the imagination more than the study of how people across cultures deal with death and dying. This expanded second edition of the internationally bestselling Death, Mourning, and Burial offers cross-cultural readings that span the period from dying to afterlife, considering approaches to this transition as a social process and exploring the great variations of cultural responses to death. Exploring new content including organ transplantation, institutionalized care for the dying, HIV-AIDs, animal mourning, and biotechnology, this text retains classic readings from the first edition, and is enhanced by twenty-three new articles and two new sections which provide increased breadth and depth for readers. Death, Mourning, and Burial, Second Edition is divided into eight parts reflecting the social trajectory of death: conceptualizations of death; death, dying, and care; grief and mourning; mortuary rituals; and remembrance and regeneration. Sections are introduced through foundational texts which provide the ideal introduction to this diverse field. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of death and dying, as well as violence, terrorism, war, state terror, organ theft, and mortuary rituals. * A thoroughly revised edition of this classic anthology featuring twenty-three new articles, two new sections, and three reformulated sections * Updated to include current topics, including organ transplantation, institutionalized care for the dying, HIV-AIDs, animal mourning, and biotechnology * Must reading for anyone concerned with issues of death and dying, as well as violence, terrorism, war, state terror, organ theft, and mortuary rituals * Serves as a text for anthropology classes and provides a genuinely cross-cultural perspective to all those studying death and dying

Focusing on the "long" nineteenth century, from the French Revolution to the beginnings of Modernism, this book examines the significance of memory in this era of turbulent social change. Through investigation of science, literature, history and the visual arts, the authors explore theories of memory and the cultural and literary resonances of memorializing.
Drawing on the work of many of the most influential literary figures of the period, such as Tennyson, Scott, and Hardy, "Memory and Memorials" explores key topics such as: gender and memory; Victorian psychological theories of memory; and cultural constructions in literature, science, history and architecture.
"Memory and Memorials: From the French Revolution to World War One" employs a range of new and influential interdisciplinary methodologies. It offers both a fresh theoretical understanding of the period, and a wealth of empirical material of use to the historian, literary critic or social psychologist.
Matthew Campbell lectures in English literature at the University of Sheffield. He is the author of "Rhythm and Will in Victorian Poetry."
Jacqueline M. Labbe is senior lecturer in English at Warwick University. She is the author of "The Romantic Paradox: Love, Violence and the Uses of Romance, 1760-1830."
Sally Shuttleworth is professor of modern literature at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of "Charlotte Bront and Victorian Psychology."

The Evolution of the British Funeral Industry in the 20th Century examines the shifts that have taken place in the funeral industry since 1900, focusing on the figure of the undertaker and exploring how organisational change and attempts to gain recognition as a professional service provider saw the role morph into that of 'funeral director'. As the disposal of the dead increased in complexity during the twentieth century, the role of the undertaker/funeral director has mirrored this change. Whilst the undertaker of 1900 primarily encoffined and transported the body, today's funeral director provides other services, such as taking responsibility for the body of the deceased and embalming, and has overseen changes such as the increasing preference for cremation, the impact of technology on the production of coffins and the shift to motorised transport. These factors, together with the problem of succession for some family-run funeral businesses, have led large organisations to make acquisitions and manage funerals on a centralised basis, achieving economies of scale. This book examines how the occupation has sought to reposition itself and how the 'funeral director' has become an essential functionary in funerary practices. However, despite striving for new-found status the role is hindered by two key issues: the stigma of handling the dead, and the perception of making a profit from loss.

This book explores the Care Trust concept promoted by central government for improving partnership working between health and social care. Using case studies and examples to raise current issues related to partnership working it explains how Care Trusts are bridging the gap between health and social care and considers how they are delivering more co-ordinated services and improved outcomes. All healthcare and social care professionals with responsibility for involved in or affected by the new partnership working arrangements will find this book useful reading.

'This book is a tribute to expert nursing. It should be seen as a celebration of all that is good in nursing. It also sets out the path for nursing that is centred on relationships - the essence of person-centred nursing is based on the quality of relationships both between nurse the client and others and also between nurses their colleagues and peers. Increasingly it is a challenge for nurses to hold on to humanistic care when we practice in a world of healthcare which is performance and fiscally driven. The concept of partnership and reciprocity runs through the book like a golden thread gleaming in a rich tapestry of person-centred practice expressed via the perspectives of the contributors. Expert practitioners working with people who have dementia have led the way in the development of person centred practice.' Pauline Ford Advisor in Gerontological Nursing Royal College of Nursing 'This book is a compendium of contemporary dementia care practice. It provides knowledge that is the foundation for a clear path to successful care outcomes. It clearly leaves no room for the ignorance that produced the uncertainty and inconsistency of past practices. If dementia can be likened to a journey of highs and lows this book shows us how to eliminate the negatives and accentuate the positives.' Bob Price Director Alzheimer Education Australia

." . . the memory of my mother came to me like a drifting scent in the breeze, swirling through the branches of a nearby cedar tree. I was drawn back 35 years] to the day I learned she had passed on. But that autumn day of 1973 did not grip me with deep sadness, the burden of never seeing her again. I was looking at that day from a new angle, a distant view that seemed to suggest a new, untold story. I was suddenly more than curious about who my mother truly was in this life and beyond."

Uprooted from family and community in Milwaukee by her husband, a French and Irish construction worker with a drinking problem, Corrine Rolo struggles to raise their seven children on a remote farm near Big Falls, Minnesota. She longs to move back to Milwaukee, or to visit her relatives on the Bad River Ojibwe reservation, at one point threatening to leave the older kids behind and return to her home in the city.

Mark Anthony Rolo sifts through potent dreams and childhood memories to recreate a picture of his often conflicted mother during the last three years of her life. She told him a few warm stories of her life on the reservation, but she participated in the family's casually derogatory banter about their Ojibwe heritage. She spent little time helping Rolo with his schoolwork, even as she wrote voluminous, detailed letters to her family in Milwaukee. She could treat her children harshly and yet also display the fiercest love.

With an innocent and sometimes brutal child's view, Rolo recounts stories of a woman who battles poverty, depression, her abusive husband, and isolation through the long northern Minnesota winters, and of himself, her son, who struggles at school, wrestles with his Ojibwe identity, and copes with violence. But he also shows, with eloquence and compassion, his adult understanding of his mother's fight to live with dignity, not despair.

Mark Anthony Rolo is an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. He is the former editor of The Circle newspaper.

It is not easy to understand why people kill themselves. The twentieth century witnessed tremendous growth in the number of books and articles written on suicide, but even with the progress made in research and suicidological
theory, the thoughts of suicidal individuals remain elusive.

In Katie's Diary, the journal left behind by a young woman who has committed suicide is analyzed, offering researchers and professionals unprecedented access to the thoughts and feelings of a victim of suicide
from an extremely rare source of data.

David Lester brings together a group of leaders in such diverse fields as suicidology, linguistics, and women's studies to consider Katie's writings from a variety of angles. The chapters address the content of her diary,
the presence of clues leading up to her suicide, and the way in which psychotherapy might have progressed had Katie sought treatment. A final chapter, written by Lester, evaluates the therapeutic value of keeping a journal or diary.

This unique work will generate new discussion and consideration in the field, advancing our understanding of suicide and its prevention.

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In this engaging book, diverse phenomena associated with death, such as apparent after-death communication and near-death experiences, are examined through a scientific lens and evaluated for the degree to which they offer evidence for the survival of consciousness after death. Is death the end of everything? Is life after death really possible? Considerable scientific support has emerged in recent years for the idea that death is best described as an altered state of consciousness. This survival hypothesis contrasts with predominant materialist thinking, which holds that there is only oblivion upon death. Chapters in this book investigate scientific evidence for mediumship, instrumental transcommunication, near-death experiences, after-death communication, and past-life experiences, among other anomalous death-related occurrences, and a framework is presented for understanding the nature of a potential afterlife. The phenomena described in this book will broaden the perspective of consciousness researchers, and fill an educational need for caregivers, grief counselors, and all who are interested in this understudied and misunderstood area.   

This book is a guide to making and carrying out the psychological decision to kill oneself or, if one so decide, to continue living. It focuses on the decision to commit suicide than on the decision to continue living.

The neurological criteria for the determination of death remain controversial within secular and Catholic circles, even though they are widely accepted within the medical community. In Determining Death by Neurological Criteria, Matthew Hanley offers both a practical and a philosophical defense. Hanley shows that the criteria are often misapplied in clinical settings, leading to cases where persons declared dead apparently spontaneously revive. These instances are often connected to a rushed decision to retrieve donated organs, thus undermining the trust of the public in organ donation. Hanley calls on health care institutions to take seriously their obligation to establish strict protocols for the determination of death, including who may conduct the examinations. From a broader perspective, Hanley considers how the criteria rely on a philosophical conception of the person as a living organism whose unity disintegrates at death. This view, he notes, corresponds to the Catholic conviction that the soul is the life-principle of the body, which departs at death, bringing about the destruction of the body-soul composite. The Vatican, recognizing that death is a medical judgment, has generally given its approval to the criteria. Hanley also reviews the many and various objections offered by detractors, including against the use of the apnea test, which is faulted as a practice that sometimes hastens death. The problem of the continued presence of certain vital functions within the deceased body of the brain dead is explored in detail, with reference to particular cases and to solutions proposed by leading physicians and bioethicists. Hanley likewise addresses the dilemma of having two separate standards for death, one neurological and the other cardiopulmonary. Given the possibility of resuscitation following loss of the cardio-circulatory system, he concludes that the neurological criteria must be the true standard. Stoppage of the heart leads swiftly to the final necrosis of the brain.

The make-up of the contemporary nation-state is increasingly multiethnic and statistics show that in many cases no one group is numerically the largest. Interethnic relations are given global visibility by the media while much that happens among different groups depends on context. Editors John D. Morgan (King's College, London) and Pittu Laungani (South Bank and Manchester Universities, England) have gathered leading international authorities to produce Death and Bereavement Around the World the first of a five-volume presentation and analysis of the ways different peoples experience dying and grief. Effective bereavement care requires a knowledge of an individual's physical, social, educational, and spiritual existence since the expressions of grief and the needs that emerge vary widely from one to another and are subject to past experiences, cultural expectations, personal beliefs, and relationships. An individual's identity comes from a sense of personal uniqueness; solidarity with group ideals; continuity with the past, present and future; and from the culture by which an individual is raised or adopted. This first volume discusses the major religious traditions of the world and how they help followers deal with the fundamentals of life.

Within popular culture, death is not the end, but instead a space where the dead can exert agency whilst entertaining the consumer. Popular culture enables the dead to be consumed by the living on a mass global scale, actively engaging them with issues of mortality. This book develops the sociological intersectionality between death, the dead and popular culture by examining the agency of the dead. Drawing upon the posthumous careers of the celebrity dead and organ transplantation mythology in popular culture the dead are shown to not be hampered by death but to benefit from the symbolic and economic value they can generate. Meanwhile the fictional dead - the Undead and the dead in crime drama - are conceptualised through morbid sensibility and morbid space to mobilise consumer consideration of mortality and even challenge the public wisdom that contemporary Western society is in death denial and that death is taboo. Death and the dead, within the parameters of popular culture, form a palatable and normative bridge between viewers and mortality, iterating the innate value and hidden depths of popular culture in the study of contemporary society. This book will be of interest to anybody who researches death, popular culture and questions of mortality.

Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. What would happen to an astronaut's body if it was pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral? In the tradition of Randall Munroe's What If?, Doughty's new book, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, blends her scientific understanding of the body and the intriguing history behind common misconceptions about corpses to offer factual, hilarious and candid answers to thirty-five urgent questions posed by her youngest fans. Readers will learn what happens if you die on an airplane, the best soil for mummifying your dog and whether or not you can preserve your friend's skull as a keepsake. Featuring illustrations from Dianne Ruiz, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? will delight anyone interested in the fascinating truth about what will happen (to our bodies) after we die.

We have lost the ability to deal with death. Most of our friends and beloved relations will die in a busy hospital in the care of strangers, doctors and nurses they have known at best for a couple of weeks. They may not even know they are dying, victims of the kindly lie that there is still hope. They are unlikely to see even their family doctor in their final hours, robbed of their dignity and fed through a tube after a long series of excessive and hopeless medical interventions. This is the starting point of Seamus O'Mahoney's thoughtful, moving and unforgettable book on the western way of death. Dying has never been more public, with celebrities writing detailed memoirs of their illness, but in private we have done our best to banish all thought of dying and made a good death increasingly difficult to achieve.

The Funerary International series comprises essential reference texts for policy-makers, practitioners and academics with an interest in funerary practices globally. Each book has a country or region specific focus, addressing a standard framework of questions to aid comparison. This book sets English and Welsh funerary practice in its wider legal, national and local governance framework, including the continuing role of the Church of England. It provides the historical context for current practice, provides data on new trends in burial and cremation and examines recent developments including direct cremation and alkaline hydrolysis. It provides detail of current practice and includes a detailed description of a typical funeral, including commemorative practice, and discussion of funeral costs. Chapters address the legalities and technicalities of burial and cremation, explaining the concept of burial rights and the technicalities of grave construction, and outlining cremation certification requirements and the process of cremation. This book is a valuable desk-top resource to give a broader frame of reference for policy makers, and to provide explanation of key concepts for practitioners who may be new to this area of work. The text will be of particular value to academics that may be unfamiliar with the legal, technical and professional aspects of the funerary industry. The text is fully referenced, with an additional bibliography of further reading, and includes illustrations, charts, tables, diagrams and boxed text including key information.

Through firsthand accounts and research, Grief Education for Caregivers of the Elderly focuses on the education, training, and support of individuals who care for the elderly. This book provides caregivers with methods to cope with grief and loss and will help educators design programs that meet the needs of their consumers: the elderly and their families, friends, and service providers. From Grief Education for Caregivers of the Elderly, you'll learn how to cope with the stress and emotions of caregiving and improve the quality of services to your patients. With an emphasis on caregivers of the institutionalized elderly and the special services provided by clergy, chaplains, and pastoral counselors, Grief Education for Caregivers of the Elderly offers the caregiver or educator several model workshops focusing on grief, loss, and bereavement care. Grief Education for Caregivers of the Elderly contains proven methods and strategies that will sharpen and enhance your caregiving skills, including: focusing on the emotional responses and phases of dying, including denial, anger, and acceptance, to help patients deal with death considering physical and administrative atmosphere and your elderly population when setting goals and designing workshops to provide optimal patient/resident care discussing the themes of grief and loss, stress management, handling change, and promoting self-care for caregivers in workshops and through self-evaluations developing workshops that open with grief history surveys and attitude checklists, discuss normative development and issues of old age, and have themes based on the biological, psychosocial, and spiritual needs of the elderly person providing caregivers with an opportunity to practice what they have learned through case studies, simulated role play, open discussions, and care plan designing thinking about your own mortality and learning about your feelings and ideas of growing old Utilized at a psychiatric nursing home facility of New Hampshire Hospital, the workshop exercises in Grief Education for Caregivers of the Elderly have allowed caregivers to express personal feelings; talk about beliefs and experiences; learn about biological, psychosocial, and spiritual processes of grief and phases of bereavement; and apply these understandings and insights into typical caregiving situations. Grief Education for the Caregivers of the Elderly gives you the framework for such a program, using vignettes, composite case material, poetry, and a holistic approach to health care to emphasize the importance of your emotional health and enhanced care of the elderly.

Death and aging are two topics not often discussed together in the present literature. This innovative and informative new text bridges the fields of gerontology and thanatology. Death attitudes--defined as attitudes towards the dying process, end-of-life decision making, and death itself--are explored.
Those contributing to this volume hail from several specialized backgrounds including gerontology, death, education, and general psychology. This mix of impressive contributors adds to the interdisciplinary perspective of the text. Readers, both professionals and students, will gain insight into these previously uncharted, but closely related, territories.

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Contents:
Introduction to the Study of Loss. Definitions and an Accurate-Making Perspective. Loss of Close Others to Death. Loss of Close Others by Divorce or Dissolution. Loss due to Senseless Violence. Loss due to War adn Genocide. Loss due to Disease Processes and Accidents. Improverishment, Homelessness, and Loss of Employment. An International Perspective on Loss and Trauma: The Case of Romania. Disenfranchised Grief and Stigmatization. Adaptation. Epilogue: Practical Strategies for Coping with Major Loss. References.