The American Way of Death Revisited - Hardcover

Jessica. Mitford

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1860495885 ISBN 13: 9781860495885

Publisher: Virago, 1998

Synopsis

"Mitford's funny and unforgiving book is the best memento mori we are likely to get. It should be updated and reissued each decade for our spiritual health."--The New York Review of BooksOnly the scathing wit and searching intelligence of Jessica Mitford could turn an exposé of the American funeral industry into a book that is at once deadly serious and side-splittingly funny. When first published in 1963 this landmark of investigative journalism became a runaway bestseller and resulted in legislation to protect grieving families from the unscrupulous sales practices of those in "the dismal trade."Just before her death in 1996, Mitford thoroughly revised and updated her classic study. The American Way of Death Revisited confronts new trends, including the success of the profession's lobbyists in Washington, inflated cremation costs, the telemarketing of pay-in-advance graves, and the effects of monopolies in a death-care industry now dominated by multinational corporations. With its hard-nosed consumer activism and a satiric vision out of Evelyn Waugh's novel The Loved One, The American Way of Death Revisited will not fail to inform, delight, and disturb. "Brilliant--hilarious--A must-read for anyone planning to throw a funeral in their lifetime."--New York Post"Witty and penetrating--it speaks the truth."--The Washington Post

About this title

Review

The American Way of Death Revisited 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. --Michael Joseph Gross

From the Inside Flap

Here is the classic anatomy of America's funeral practices, revised, expanded, and brought up-to-date for a new generation.

Thirty-five years ago, Jessica Mitford's savage and hilarious The American Way of Death was a number one best-seller and occasioned new legislation intended to reform the funeral industry. By the time of her death in 1996, Mitford had almost finished a complete revision of that long-out-of-print book--demonstrating, with her genius for outrageous and devastating muckraking, that, far from being reformed, the industry is more pernicious than ever in its assault on our values and our wallets.

This revised edition contains completely new chapters on, among other things, prepayment ("Pay Now--Die Poorer") and the new multi-national corporations ("A Global Village of the Dead"), as well as a jaundiced look at the failure of the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the laws that the original edition of this book helped bring about. And, of course, there's a total updating of the facts and figures that tell the tale.

A classic work of investigative journalism. A brilliant piece of satirical writing. An essential guide to dealing with the questionable (to put it politely) practices of an industry that--alas--sooner or later affects us all.

Edition details

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1860495885
• ISBN 13: 9781860495885
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304