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Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of Death
Josh Slocum and Lisa Carlson are the two most prominent advocates of consumer rights in dealing with the death industry. Here they combine efforts to inform consumers of their rights and propose long-needed reforms. Slocum is executive director of Funeral Consumers Alliance, a national nonprofit with over 90 local affiliates nationwide. Carlson is executive director of Funeral Ethics Organization, which works with the industry to try to improve ethical standards. In addition to nationwide issues, the book covers state-by-state information needed by anybody who wishes to take charge of funeral arrangements for a loved one, with or without the help of a funeral director. More information about the book and related issues can be found at www.finalrights.org .
- GenresDeathNonfiction
112 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2011
19 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 30, 2017
This book is a must read for anyone who will die or knows someone else who will. This book outlines what your rights are when interacting with the funeral industry. The Funeral Consumer's Alliance does a lot of hard work on behalf of people who are making very big and expensive decisions at a time when they're very vulnerable. Although most of us think it's important to have conversations about our final wishes, few of us ever will.
June 1, 2021
Final Rights
The book exposes the ills within the funeral industry, deplorable events, and massive corruption in different states across the United States. Lisa Carlson and Joshua Slocum evaluate the laws that regulate the shadowy funeral industry, some of which are ill-conceived and a means for exploitation in parody. The book is a continuation of the account by Jessica Mitford on the stunning decades where the death industry is manifested by abuse and corruption. Final Rights suggests that nothing much has changed despite the vivid accounts of an ill-found industry decade back. The book documents how families are exploited through the vanishing of prepaid funeral money without explanations. Even worse, the book records that body parts are illegally traded in the black market. At the same time, the families of the deceased are manipulated into purchasing services and commodities they do not require.
The book aims at preparing the readers on the realities to face in the funeral industry, with hazards and choices they might encounter. Price inflation at the funeral homes, deceitful funeral insurance brokers, and more dark humor in the death industry, which most public members are unaware of until the worst happens when they are the victims. The book's authors differ from the widespread public perception that the funeral industry is a semi-legal, semi-religious, and wholesome entity, terming them as delusions. The book advocates for justice in a sector like any other, as Americans did with hospitals and childbirth. The wrongdoings of the funeral industry are exposed, informing the consumers of their rights and proposing legal reforms in the sector. Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson are taking the leadership position in advocating for funeral industry reforms, providing the existing laws in states, services, regulations, and concerns of consumers.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
The book by Caitin Doughty expresses her ruminations about death and the state of dying in which she intersperses her journey from her childhood days. The book narrates an unconventional and nonconformist transition from childhood to adulthood of the author. The narrative has an intriguing interest in the grotesque. In her 20s and an inexperienced graduate of medieval history, Doughty takes up a job as a crematorium to sustain her life and make ends meet. The job exposes her to a new world of the death culture and the end-of-life reality, rituals, care, and practices that she had previously not known existed. The book provides vivid descriptions of dead bodies under care protocols, pulling back new dawn to the funeral sector and the culture surrounding end-of-life—death. The reality of death is presented through graphic descriptions of bodies, embalming and cremation practices, and how discussions of death and treatment of dead bodies are taboo in modern society.
Therefore, smoke Gets in Your Eyes presents an honest explanation of the reality of the taboo topic of death and the crematory industry through the author's real-life experience. Doughty uses her position as a licensed mortician to urge the readers to conquer their fears about dying and advocate for alternative funeral culture and practices. In her words, she notes that death is an engine that keeps the human society in progress, as a motive to achievements, love, creates, and learning. She uses her real experiences with death in the crematory to urge people to live fearlessly about death, as such fear is the obstacle to the individual potential. The book is for all who are curious about what happens at death, the embalming and cremation practices, and why funerals have to be the events we see in society. It offers the perfect history of death protocols, funeral culture, and other related practices.
Confessions of a Funeral Director
The book is an autobiography account of the author, Caleb Wilde, on his ascension to be a funeral director and a genuine glimpse of the funeral industry. In the book, Wilde offers multiple perspectives on good living and death, recounting the experiences and stories of people who have died and their families. The book illustrates how death illuminates or deepens the reason and meaning of human existence through life. Wilde grew when both sides of his family were in home funeral businesses in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania. Both Wilde's grandfathers were funeral directors, while his father became the director of Wilde Funeral Home as a fifth-generation member. The author discusses his skirmishes in merging the two funeral businesses in the family.
The book discusses Wilde's immense impact in growing up around death experiences, such as playing hide-and-seek with his cousins in the casket rooms. Dead bodies were a common situation, which is one significant defining aspect of his youth's perceptions of death. He explains how such experiences led to his obsessions of what comes after death in his teenage years, to which death was more work than personal in his childhood. Despite a deeply religious family, the sensitivity to death, how it comes unanticipated, and the mortality influenced him. Therefore, confessions of a Funeral Director explore the childhood perspective of death, going to hell, and general individual contemplation of Wilde in the purpose of living and the reconciliation of religion and God. The perspective of negativity or positivity of death is presented on how people see the topic. The book, therefore, encompasses sad, funny, and witty scenes from the account of Caleb Wilde in the death or funeral industry.
The American Way of Death
The book is an expose by Jessica Mitford on the abuses and exploitations that occur in the United States funeral home industry. The book was first published in 1963, with various revisions and updates released later. The book confronts new trends in the death industry, such as inflated costs of cremation, the success of the lobbyists of the profession in Washington, and monopolies in the death-care sector through multinational corporations (cartels) pay-in-advance graves telemarketing, among other notable trends of the industry. The families in grief risk being exploited through shady business practices.
The American Way of Death explores the ambiguity of death and burial, drawing attention to the high expenses of a funeral. Mitford terms funeral as one of the most expensive purchases after a car and a house. She exposes how the death undertakers target the grief of the families for gains by sprinkling guilt and fear to make the death of a loved one a lucrative deal for the funeral home. The book explores practices that have been conditioned to be crucial and beneficial for the grieving family and society. Common practices such as embalming practices and open casket funerals have exorbitant payments attached, and the ease of paying is perceived to be an expression of the degree of love to the deceased. The more money, implies the more love. The book provides statistical information on auxiliary services, hence advocating for legal reformation and improvement suggestions.
The book exposes the ills within the funeral industry, deplorable events, and massive corruption in different states across the United States. Lisa Carlson and Joshua Slocum evaluate the laws that regulate the shadowy funeral industry, some of which are ill-conceived and a means for exploitation in parody. The book is a continuation of the account by Jessica Mitford on the stunning decades where the death industry is manifested by abuse and corruption. Final Rights suggests that nothing much has changed despite the vivid accounts of an ill-found industry decade back. The book documents how families are exploited through the vanishing of prepaid funeral money without explanations. Even worse, the book records that body parts are illegally traded in the black market. At the same time, the families of the deceased are manipulated into purchasing services and commodities they do not require.
The book aims at preparing the readers on the realities to face in the funeral industry, with hazards and choices they might encounter. Price inflation at the funeral homes, deceitful funeral insurance brokers, and more dark humor in the death industry, which most public members are unaware of until the worst happens when they are the victims. The book's authors differ from the widespread public perception that the funeral industry is a semi-legal, semi-religious, and wholesome entity, terming them as delusions. The book advocates for justice in a sector like any other, as Americans did with hospitals and childbirth. The wrongdoings of the funeral industry are exposed, informing the consumers of their rights and proposing legal reforms in the sector. Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson are taking the leadership position in advocating for funeral industry reforms, providing the existing laws in states, services, regulations, and concerns of consumers.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
The book by Caitin Doughty expresses her ruminations about death and the state of dying in which she intersperses her journey from her childhood days. The book narrates an unconventional and nonconformist transition from childhood to adulthood of the author. The narrative has an intriguing interest in the grotesque. In her 20s and an inexperienced graduate of medieval history, Doughty takes up a job as a crematorium to sustain her life and make ends meet. The job exposes her to a new world of the death culture and the end-of-life reality, rituals, care, and practices that she had previously not known existed. The book provides vivid descriptions of dead bodies under care protocols, pulling back new dawn to the funeral sector and the culture surrounding end-of-life—death. The reality of death is presented through graphic descriptions of bodies, embalming and cremation practices, and how discussions of death and treatment of dead bodies are taboo in modern society.
Therefore, smoke Gets in Your Eyes presents an honest explanation of the reality of the taboo topic of death and the crematory industry through the author's real-life experience. Doughty uses her position as a licensed mortician to urge the readers to conquer their fears about dying and advocate for alternative funeral culture and practices. In her words, she notes that death is an engine that keeps the human society in progress, as a motive to achievements, love, creates, and learning. She uses her real experiences with death in the crematory to urge people to live fearlessly about death, as such fear is the obstacle to the individual potential. The book is for all who are curious about what happens at death, the embalming and cremation practices, and why funerals have to be the events we see in society. It offers the perfect history of death protocols, funeral culture, and other related practices.
Confessions of a Funeral Director
The book is an autobiography account of the author, Caleb Wilde, on his ascension to be a funeral director and a genuine glimpse of the funeral industry. In the book, Wilde offers multiple perspectives on good living and death, recounting the experiences and stories of people who have died and their families. The book illustrates how death illuminates or deepens the reason and meaning of human existence through life. Wilde grew when both sides of his family were in home funeral businesses in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania. Both Wilde's grandfathers were funeral directors, while his father became the director of Wilde Funeral Home as a fifth-generation member. The author discusses his skirmishes in merging the two funeral businesses in the family.
The book discusses Wilde's immense impact in growing up around death experiences, such as playing hide-and-seek with his cousins in the casket rooms. Dead bodies were a common situation, which is one significant defining aspect of his youth's perceptions of death. He explains how such experiences led to his obsessions of what comes after death in his teenage years, to which death was more work than personal in his childhood. Despite a deeply religious family, the sensitivity to death, how it comes unanticipated, and the mortality influenced him. Therefore, confessions of a Funeral Director explore the childhood perspective of death, going to hell, and general individual contemplation of Wilde in the purpose of living and the reconciliation of religion and God. The perspective of negativity or positivity of death is presented on how people see the topic. The book, therefore, encompasses sad, funny, and witty scenes from the account of Caleb Wilde in the death or funeral industry.
The American Way of Death
The book is an expose by Jessica Mitford on the abuses and exploitations that occur in the United States funeral home industry. The book was first published in 1963, with various revisions and updates released later. The book confronts new trends in the death industry, such as inflated costs of cremation, the success of the lobbyists of the profession in Washington, and monopolies in the death-care sector through multinational corporations (cartels) pay-in-advance graves telemarketing, among other notable trends of the industry. The families in grief risk being exploited through shady business practices.
The American Way of Death explores the ambiguity of death and burial, drawing attention to the high expenses of a funeral. Mitford terms funeral as one of the most expensive purchases after a car and a house. She exposes how the death undertakers target the grief of the families for gains by sprinkling guilt and fear to make the death of a loved one a lucrative deal for the funeral home. The book explores practices that have been conditioned to be crucial and beneficial for the grieving family and society. Common practices such as embalming practices and open casket funerals have exorbitant payments attached, and the ease of paying is perceived to be an expression of the degree of love to the deceased. The more money, implies the more love. The book provides statistical information on auxiliary services, hence advocating for legal reformation and improvement suggestions.
August 27, 2011
A really helpful consumer book. I read the first Part and then the chapter on Ohio.
November 19, 2011
Very important information state by state on requirements for caring for deceased loved ones.
September 10, 2022
Last month, I found myself turning to this book again and again. “Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of Death” by Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson is an excellent resource for death workers. This book organizes regulations and requirements of caring for the dead by state, allowing you to use it as a quick reference tool. For example, I recently had a consultation with a client who wants to be buried on his own rural property here in the state of Tennessee and is seeking guidance on what/how to make his wishes happen. “Final Rights” delineates the legal restrictions in our state (tip: not many!) for someone wishing to be buried on their own land. It also points me to the next steps (County zoning requirements, legal advice to amend the property deed, etc).
Helpful for death doulas and home funeral guides alike but also insanely useful for anyone wanting to step outside the standardized funeral industry’s care of the dead, this is a must-have for your death/grief bookshelf.
Helpful for death doulas and home funeral guides alike but also insanely useful for anyone wanting to step outside the standardized funeral industry’s care of the dead, this is a must-have for your death/grief bookshelf.
October 7, 2018
An excellent book that shows us how to reclaim our rights over our own final act. In addition to the sections that detail the general practices of the funeral industry, there is a chapter dedicated to each of the 50 state's policies so you can easily find the info relevant for you.
abandoned
July 2, 2019I thought this was very useful upon skimming back in the day and recalled it after my grandfather's death. Saving here for future reference/recommend to family, in the hopes that it is not needed anytime soon.
October 31, 2017
Although very informative, the authors' tone verges on bombastic, which makes it a difficult read.
February 5, 2019
Informative.
September 2, 2020
Read this book. Then send copies to everyone you know.
December 9, 2013
The authors represent the Funeral Consumers Alliance; they may be a little bit alarmist, but mostly they give much useful info on consumers' rights and options when planning funerals (or making funeral-like arrangements) and making accompanying decisions. They give descriptions of various processes used to embalm, inter, cosmetically alter, etc. the corpse. There is also a chapter for each state that summarizes specific regulations about dealing with bodies, funeral home regulations, services that can be performed by lay people vs. licensed professionals, burial regulations, etc. Did you know that, in Mass., there is a 2-day wait period before a body can be cremated, even when that was the wish of the deceased? And that a medical examiner has to approve the permit for cremation? Odd. There are many myths out there about what must occur (many of which are propagated by the funeral industry); this book gives clarity to what is and isn't required by law.
If you are interested in the fascinating topic of death, as I am, I also recommend the Showtime documentary series "Time of Death." And the book by Irvin Yalom titled "Staring at the Sun."
If you are interested in the fascinating topic of death, as I am, I also recommend the Showtime documentary series "Time of Death." And the book by Irvin Yalom titled "Staring at the Sun."
May 21, 2014
Joshua Slocum’s and Lisa Carlson’s book, Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of Death, is one part in-depth expose of all things deplorable and funeral, and two-parts step by step manual detailing the different states’ laws regulating this shadowy industry, which in some instances are so ill-conceived and ripe for exploitation as to verge on parody. The authors intend to prepare their readers fully for the choices and hazards they will face when dealing with the funeral industry, but this might be an even harder task than they give credit for. After all, how many people go through their daily lives even aware that there is a “funeral industry”?
Until the worst happens, or seems will inevitably happen, price-inflating funeral homes and dishonest burial insurance salesmen remain far and unfortunately removed from the average citizen’s comfort zone. This is perhaps easily forgotten by those as involved in the funeral industry as Slocum and Carlson.
[Continued]
Full SevenPonds review:
http://blog.sevenponds.com/lending-in...
Until the worst happens, or seems will inevitably happen, price-inflating funeral homes and dishonest burial insurance salesmen remain far and unfortunately removed from the average citizen’s comfort zone. This is perhaps easily forgotten by those as involved in the funeral industry as Slocum and Carlson.
[Continued]
Full SevenPonds review:
http://blog.sevenponds.com/lending-in...
September 14, 2012
Most people today when dealing with a funeral home, do not have any idea of the abuse that goes on behind the mortuary doors. We all assume that funeral directors are like clergy... and have our best interest at heart. Funeral directors are first and foremost business owners, which is not bad(every business in entitled to a FAIR profit) unless they prey upon people when they are vulnerable to make EXCESSIVE profits. The book "Final Rights" will help you make good $$$ choices when it comes to funerals. This book should be read before you need the help of a funeral home, or even if you want to do a funeral yourself.
November 12, 2014
This invaluable tome belongs on a bookshelf in every home in America. Throughout my experience in the funeral industry, I've witnessed time & again the naivete of consumers being taken advantage of.
Too many places in this country don't have the regulations in place to protect funeral consumers. Across this nation, places fall through the cracks & the funeral industry holds those communities hostage. People need to know they can stand up & demand the death & memorialization they want & need.
You have rights. Be aware of them!
Too many places in this country don't have the regulations in place to protect funeral consumers. Across this nation, places fall through the cracks & the funeral industry holds those communities hostage. People need to know they can stand up & demand the death & memorialization they want & need.
You have rights. Be aware of them!
February 17, 2012
While this book has an obvious author bias the inforamtion in here is so interesting and so startling you should definately read it. The state specific section in the back are also very helpful in knowing what to expect.
October 27, 2012
When a death occurs, involvement of a funeral home is not a requirement. This book is a valuable resource of information for those wishing to handle funeral arrangements themselves. Most of the book is a state-by-state legal guide.
January 21, 2012
This book is a great resource. A good portion of it is devoted to burial regulations in each state.
February 9, 2012
I was more looking for a book about planning a traditional funeral. This book has some info on that but it is more focused on home burial, which isn't relevant for me.
Read
August 9, 2024A little preachy, but still an excellent book on the subject.
January 5, 2013
A MUST READ - Consumers...open your eyes! As a hospice RN that works with indigent families, being able to furnish them with alternatives to the "norm" is of great value to them.
March 19, 2014
As others have said, "A must read".
October 26, 2015
Indispensable handbook on the legal rights of families who wish to care for their dead at home, arranged by state.Also includes information about legislative issues and green disposition.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews