false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174251760m/372809.jpg 372809 4 <I>The American Way of Death Revisited</I> is almost unforgivably funny. Jessica Mitford's exposé of the funeral industry, a number one bestseller upon first publication, is a model of muckraking--an almost incredible description of how undertakers in the U.S. assault people's souls and wallets. Before her death in 1996, Mitford devoted most of her energy to this revised edition of her masterwork, which zeroes in on funeral prepayment (the chapter is titled "Pay Now--Die Poorer"), the new multinational funeral corporations ("A Global Village of the Dead"), and the Federal Trade Commission's failure to enforce the laws the first edition of this book helped bring about. The book's greatest treasure is probably her shocking and hilarious description of exactly what happens in the process of embalming. Equally impressive, however, is her chapter called "The Nosy Clergy," which describes the collusion and competition between America's undertakers and its preachers. <I>--Michael Joseph Gross</I> 362730 1998 The American Way of Death Revisited total:249|5:81|4:105|3:57|2:4|1:2| 249 1006 420 61 5 0 false false Tue Sep 29 17:08:35 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 17:12:54 -0700 2009 Letting Them Dig Their Own Graves: Jessica Mitford’s The American Way of Death Revisited

“You may not be able to change the world,” Jessica Mitford said, “but at least you can embarrass the guilty.”

Embarrass them she did, and the ways she did so in The American Way ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 13:49:36 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 13:01:06 -0700 2009
I trust morticians about as much as I trust lawyers, but I came away fro...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 11:35:04 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 16:34:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Fri Sep 18 11:06:14 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 11:06:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Feb 26 19:30:42 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 01 05:49:00 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 09:03:01 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 05:25:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 17:26:17 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 20:08:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Apr 21 10:48:43 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 10:52:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Dec 28 02:36:27 -0800 2008 Tue May 12 07:02:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 16 20:01:35 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 22 17:05:40 -0700 2008
As a Quaker and a Witch, I was already dedicated to simple burial. Little did I reali...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 16 16:08:20 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 16 16:44:35 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Nov 21 06:50:45 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 21 06:51:29 -0800 2007 The American Way of Death Revisited over the weekend & it was rather depressing, tho perhaps not in the way you'd think.

It's less of a sociological treatise of how Americans deal with death & dying as it is an expose on the American funeral home industry and how they take advanta...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Sep 17 09:39:18 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 23 19:22:10 -0800 2008
I ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jan 04 11:37:14 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 11:40:10 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 14:07:17 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 14:09:00 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Feb 10 11:24:38 -0800 2009 Fri Aug 28 08:04:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Apr 26 08:42:20 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 18:29:54 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Sep 16 16:00:57 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 16:02:30 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jan 12 15:46:23 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 15:52:47 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Dec 28 22:20:44 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 22:23:31 -0800 2008 1 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=372809