In this compelling book Nigel Saul opens up the world of medieval gentry families, using the magnificent brasses and monuments of the Cobham family as a window on to the social and religious culture of the middle ages.

Museums and Photography combines a strong theoretical approach with international case studies to investigate the display of death in various types of museums-history, anthropology, art, ethnographic, and science museums - and to understand the changing role of photography in museums. Contributors explore the politics and poetics of displaying death, and more specifically, the role of photography in representing and interpreting this difficult topic. Working with nearly 20 researchers from different cultural backgrounds and disciplines, the editors critically engage the recent debate on the changing role of museums, exhibition meaning-making, and the nature of photography. They offer new ways for understanding representational practices in relation to contemporary visual culture. This book will appeal to researchers and museum professionals, inspiring new thinking about death and the role of photography in making sense of it.

Bringing together the views of numerous distinguished scholars, Children and Death investigates the child's concept of death from both academic and clinical points of view. The contributors have aimed at developing practical guidelines for a multidisciplinary approach to the care and support of the dying child, the child's family unit, and staff who work with dying children. The findings presented here are also applicable to care of children with life-threatening illness. Topics discussed include: children's concepts of death; emotional impact of disease; perspectives on children's death and dying; and coping with a child's death.

Mortuary Dialogues presents fresh perspectives on death and mourning across the Pacific Islands. Through a set of rich ethnographies, the book examines how funerals and death rituals give rise to discourse and debate about sustaining moral personhood and community amid modernity and its enormous transformations. The book's key concept, "mortuary dialogue," describes the different genres of talk and expressive culture through which people struggle to restore individual and collective order in the aftermath of death in the contemporary Pacific.

"Fatal Freedom" is an eloquent defense of every individual's right to choose a voluntary death. The author, a renowned psychiatrist, believes that we can speak about suicide calmly and rationally, as he does in this book, and that we can ultimately accept suicide as part of the human condition. By maintaining statutes that determine that voluntary death is not legal, our society is forfeiting one of its basic freedoms and causing the psychiatric/medical establishment to treat individuals in a manner that is disturbingly inhumane according to Dr. Szasz. His important work asks and points to clear, intelligent answers to some of the most significant ethical questions of our time:

Is suicide a voluntary act?

Should physicians be permitted to prevent it?

Should they be authorized to abet it?

The author's thoughtful analysis of these questions consistently holds forth patient autonomy as paramount; therefore, he argues, patients should not be prevented from exercising their free will, nor should physicians be permitted to enter the process by prescribing or providing the means for voluntary death.

Dr. Szasz predicts that we will look back at our present prohibitory policies toward suicide with the same amazed disapproval with which we regard past policies toward homosexuality, masturbation, and birth control. This comparison with other practices that started as sins, became crimes, then were regarded as mental illnesses, and are now becoming more widely accepted, opens up the discussion and understanding of suicide in a historical context. The book explores attitudes toward suicide held by the ancient Greeks and Romans, through early Christianity and the Reformation, to the advent of modern psychiatry and contemporary society as a whole. Our tendency to define disapproved behaviors as diseases has created a psychiatric establishment that exerts far too much influence over how and when we choose to die. Just as we have come to accept the individual's right to birth control, so too must we accept his right to death control before we can call our society humane or free.

Periods of transition are often symbolically associated with death, making the latter the paradigm of liminality. Yet, many volumes on death in the social sciences and humanities do not specifically address liminality. This book investigates these "ultimate ambiguities," assuming they can pose a threat to social relationships because of the disintegrating forces of death, but they are also crucial periods of creativity, change, and emergent aspects of social and religious life. Contributors explore death and liminality from an interdisciplinary perspective and present a global range of historical and contemporary case studies outlining emotional, cognitive, artistic, social, and political implications.

Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among adolescents in the United States, and some studies suggest that as many as 75 percent of all teenagers have considered killing themselves. Current research on young people who are suicidal (those who attempt and those who succeed) is discussed in a plain way. Among the wide ranging topics covered are the prevalence of adolescent suicide, racial and gender differences, methods used in the study of suicidal behavior, associated behavioral problems (e.g., drugs and alcohol), psychological profiles, precipitating events for suicide attempts, teenage suicide clusters, the effects of suicide on family and friends, the treatment of suicidal adolescents, and, most importantly, strategies for intervention and prevention.

What if we didn’t consider death the worst possible outcome? What if we discussed it honestly, embraced end-of-life care and prepared for the end of our lives with hope and acceptance?

In this empathetic and knowledgeable guide, TikTok star Julie McFadden – known online as ‘Hospice Nurse Julie’ – shares the valuable lessons she’s learned in her fifteen years as a palliative care nurse. Expertly weaving emotional insight with practical advice, you’ll find out:

• which medical interventions help and which make things worse
• facts and myths about hospice care
• the most important conversations to have before you die
• the many inexplicable and fascinating deathbed experiences people have
• how to navigate the grieving journey, before and after death

This book is the first comprehensive assessment of the mortality crisis which has affected most economies in transition but which has remained so far largely unexplained. It reconciles long-term and short-term explanations of the crisis and makes use of special micro data-sets never used before. By providing a rigorous multidisciplinary analysis of this upsurge in mortality rates, the book hopes to contribute to the launch of vigorous policies to tackle this societal problem.

Encountering evidence of postmortem examinations - dissection or autopsy in historic skeletal collections is relatively rare, but recently there has been an increase in the number of reported instances. And much of what has been evaluated has been largely descriptive and historical. The Bioarchaeology of Dissection and Autopsy brings together in a single volume the skeletal evidence of postmortem examination in the United States. Ranging from the early colonial period to the early 1900's, from a coffeehouse at Colonial Williamsburg to a Quaker burial vault in lower Manhattan, the contributions to this volume demonstrate the interpretive significance of a historically and theoretically contextualized bioarchaeology. The authors employ a wide range of perspectives, demonstrating how bioarchaeological evidence can be used to address a wide range of themes including social identity and marginalization, racialization, the nature of the body and fragmentation, and the emergence of medical practice and authority in the United States.

This comprehensive overview of the funeral home business provides valuable inside information needed by thoughtful consumers, legal advisers, trust officers, and even clergy - all those who must confront the hard practical questions that surround one of life's most trying and emotion-filled experiences. Most of us try our best to be cost-conscious consumers. Yet when faced with the sad task of arranging a funeral, grief, sorrow, and guilt often make us vulnerable. The stress of heightened emotion prevents us from asking pertinent questions about our options and the costs involved. Perplexed by the mystery that surrounds funeral directors, survivors are left to struggle through this painful ordeal with little or no guidance. How does one select a funeral home? What obligations and functions are properly the family's and which should be expected of the funeral home? Who is financially responsible for the funeral? What funeral options are available and which are best? Is it possible to arrange a dignified yet affordable funeral? Is it crass to be concerned about costs at a time like this? These are some of the questions addressed by former funeral director Gregory W. Young in The High Cost of Dying. His easy-to-read reference guide aides consumers - those who are currently in need and those who just want to be prepared - to arrange a funeral while at the same time avoiding unnecessary charges. Young's compassion for the grief stricken and his in-depth understanding of funeral preparation combine to provide a unique perspective on the history and psychology of the American funeral. Unlike sensational media stories or muckraking books of the past, Young's valuable work offers an honest, straightforward view of this difficult and emotion-filled process. Readers will learn why a funeral can be so expensive and that, like any other business, funeral practitioners control only some of the costs involved. Surprisingly, he demonstrates how the funeral director can be a valued ally in holding down costs. Honest funeral practitioners will applaud the author's efforts to engage the public's interest in gaining a clearer image of what funeral home owners do to make their living. Each chapter of this information-packed book covers an important aspect of the contemporary funeral: the need for consumerism, the funeral in history, how the funeral director can help the survivors, making the choice between burial and cremation, the importance of the funeral arrangement conference, outlining the funeral contract, describing common funeral rip-offs, how to pre-arrange a funeral, answering frequently asked consumer questions, and much more. Of vital importance are the special features of this remarkable volume: the handy funeral arrangement checklist that helps consumers determine their needs; a discussion of price ranges for specific services, caskets and burial vaults, and miscellaneous expenses; and an appendix that contains both the current Federal Trade Commission Rule (1984) on funeral industry practices and the 1994 rule that will soon be implemented. Never before has so much valuable information been compiled by such a noted authority on a topic that will inevitably touch all of us.

A vital roadmap to planning your own end-of-life care. While modern Americans strive to control nearly every aspect of their lives, many of us abandon control of life's final passage. But the realities of twenty-first-century medicine will allow most of us to have a say in how, when, and where we die, so we need to make decisions surrounding death, too. Or those decisions may be made for us. Threading compelling real-life stories and practical guidance throughout, this book helps readers navigate end-of-life care for themselves and their loved ones. In this practical guidebook, Dr. Dan Morhaim and Shelley Morhaim offer readers hope, empowerment, and inspiration. What we choose for our end-of-life care, they assert, depends on accurate information and on our personal values. We need these not only to understand new medical advances but also to appreciate the wisdom of humanity's past and present. Dan Morhaim, an emergency medicine physician and former Maryland state legislator, guides readers through the medical, legal, and financial maze of end-of-life care. He details the care choices available to patients and explains why living wills and advance directives are a necessity for every American. He tells readers where to find free and readily available living wills and advance directives and why it is so important for everyone-young and old-to complete them. Meanwhile, Shelley Morhaim draws on her experience as a therapeutic music practitioner for hospice and hospital patients to offer compassion to readers facing hard decisions. The authors reflect on a number of timely topics, including * what doctors-including Dr. Morhaim specifically-want for themselves in terms of end-of-life care * how legislative initiatives on assisted dying vary by state * how to obtain medical orders for life-sustaining treatment (MOLST/POLST) * how to deal with dementia * what to expect from palliative and hospice care * how to cope with pain at the end of life, including with medical cannabis and narcotics * how organ donation and body disposition work * how to communicate individual needs to lawyers, physicians, and family members * how to make decisions when selecting the best care for yourself and others and more. Organized as a roadmap that people should follow when they plan end-of-life care and contingencies, this book helps readers keep decisions in their own hands and spare their families the uncertainty and trauma of guessing about their end-of-life wishes. Breaking down the barriers to a difficult but essential topic, Preparing for a Better End helps readers open this often-avoided discussion with their loved ones while providing the information and guidance needed to ensure that deeply held values are reflected and honored. Praise for the Author "In The Better End, Dr. Morhaim helps the reader to see that while death does have its sting, it need not be bitter, and each of us can prepare for the end in better ways."-Maya Angelou "Dan Morhaim's message is a must read for anyone who is facing end-of-life crisis issues and concerns, whether it be for themselves or for a family member or loved one. When so many others shun away from the topic, Dan Morhaim addresses the situation with clarity, insight, and sensitivity."-Montel Williams

Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous over the years. Whereas in the West death is normally a private and family affair, in Africa funerals are often the central life cycle event, unparalleled in cost and importance, for which families harness vast amounts of resources to host lavish events for multitudes of people with ramifications well beyond the event. Though officials may try to regulate them, the popularity of these events often makes such efforts fruitless, and the elites themselves spend tremendously on funerals. This volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.

"[S]heds light not only on the obstacles to making motherhood safer, but to improving the health of poor populations in general."-Social Anthropology Since 1987, when the global community first recognized the high frequency of women in developing countries dying from pregnancy-related causes, little progress has been made to combat this problem. This study follows the global policies that have been implemented in Solola, Guatemala in order to decrease high rates of maternal mortality among indigenous Mayan women. The author examines the diverse meanings and understandings of motherhood, pregnancy, birth and birth-related death among the biomedical personnel, village women, their families, and midwives. These incongruous perspectives, in conjunction with the implementation of such policies, threaten to disenfranchise clients from their own cultural understandings of self. The author investigates how these policies need to meld with the everyday lives of these women, and how the failure to do so will lead to a failure to decrease maternal deaths globally. From the Introduction: An unspoken effect of reducing maternal mortality to a medical problem is that life and death become the only outcomes by which pregnancy and birth are understood. The specter of death looms large and limits our full exploration of either our attempts to curb maternal mortality, or the phenomenon itself. Certainly women's survival during childbirth is the ultimate measure of success of our efforts. Yet using pregnancy outcomes and biomedical attendance at birth as the primary feedback on global efforts to make pregnancy safer is misguided.

The decline of infections, starvation, heart attack, and stroke has allowed people to reach extreme old age--and ushered in disability, dementia, and degenerative disease, with profound consequences for the self and society. In chapters echoing Dante's nine circles of hell, Dr. Guy Brown explores these vital issues at various levels, from the cell, to the whole body, to society and how all this new medical technology affects the meaning of death. He tracks the seismic shifts in the causes and character of death that are rocking medicine and reveals how technological innovations, such as cloning and electronic interfaces, hint at new modes of "survival" after death.

It is estimated that there are 60,000 excess Black American deaths annually compared with White Americans. Not only do Black babies die earlier than White babies, but, in recent years, there are reports that while life expectancy for Whites has improved, for Blacks there has been a leveling off, if not a reduction. These are among the issues detailed in this important guide to the major causes of Black illness and death. Divided into 27 chapters, this handbook provides a mosaic of the conditions, issues, and policies related to Black American health. The more than 40 contributing authors, drawn from institutions across the country, are the premier scholars in their respective fields. The scope and multidisciplinary nature of the handbook makes it invaluable for those concerned with contemporary Black society, clinical medicine, epidemiology, health care administration, medical sociology, nursing, nutrition, public health, social work, and public policy.

Suicide Prevention: A Holistic Approach contains the selected and edited papers that were presented during the congress Suicide, Disease, Disadvantage, A Holistic Approach, organized by the International Association for Suicide Prevention, which was held in June 1995, in Venice. Suicide prevention is still sadly neglected by governments and public health authorities, despite the fact that in several Western countries suicide has become the primary cause of death among younger age groups. The selected papers express the need for a holistic viewpoint in suicide management. The subjects range from parasuicide to the role of the media, from the special type of psychotherapeutic approach required to the most recent guidelines in pharmacological treatment, from a homage to the memory of Erwin Ringel to the presentation of specific national prevention schemes. The book will be of interest to public health workers, doctors, psychologists and social workers, as well as voluntary staff and their organizations, and to all those who make suicide prevention one of their primary interests.

This anthology of 16 chapters (see details below) is VOLUME 4 of the DEATH AND ANTI-DEATH series by Ria University Press. Most of the contributions consist of scholarship unique to this volume. Includes index. Although published in honor of Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), the chapters do NOT necessarily mention Simone de Beauvoir or Martin Heidegger. The 16 chapters (by professional philosophers and other professional scholars) ARE directed to issues related to death, life extension, and anti-death - as follows: 1. Mechanism, Galileo's Animale And Heidegger's Gestell: Reflections On The Lifelessness Of Modern Science (by Giorgio Baruchello); 2. Simone De Beauvoir (by Debra Bergoffen); 3. Existentialism (by Steven Crowell); 4. Time Wounds All Heels (by William Grey); 5. The Ethical Importance Of Death (by Jenann Ismael); 6. The Poetics Of Death: Intimations And Illusions (by Lawrence Kimmel); 7. Death And Aesthetics (by Keith Lehrer); 8. Ageing And Existentialism: Simone De Beauvoir And The Limits Of Freedom (by Shannon M. Mussett); 9. Life Extension And Meaning (by Carol O'Brien); 10. Consciousness As Computation: A Defense Of Strong AI Based On Quantum-State Functionalism (by R. Michael Perry); 11. Reality Shifts: On The Death And Dying Of Dr. Timothy Leary (by Carol Sue Rosin); 12. Extraterrestrial Liberty And The Great Transmutation (by Charles Tandy); 13. A Time Travel Schema And Eight Types Of Time Travel (by Charles Tandy); 14. Boredom, Experimental Ethics, And Superlongevity (by Mark Walker); 15. Exopolitics: The Death Of Death (by Alfred Lambremont Webre); 16. Embryo Cloning: Current State Of The Medical Art And Its Far-Reaching Consequences ForMultiple Applications (by Panayiotis M. Zavos).