The American Way of Death Revisited - Softcover

Mitford, Jessica

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1860497624 ISBN 13: 9781860497629

Publisher: Virago, 2012

Synopsis

In the early 1960s this classic work of investigative journalism was a number one bestseller. The savage and hilarious analysis of America's funeral practices rocked the industry and shocked the public. This up-dated edition (revised just before the author's death) shows that if anything the industry has become more pernicious than ever in its assault on our practices and wallets. And it's an industry that - alas - sooner or later affects us all.

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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

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1860497624
• ISBN 13: 9781860497629
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304