The Dead Beat
Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries
By Marilyn Johnson
(Harper Perennial, Paperback, 9780060758769, 272pp.)
Publication Date: February 2007
Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover
Categories: Death & Dying, Death, Grief, Bereavement
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Marilyn Johnson was enthralled by the remarkable lives that were marching out of this world—so she sought out the best obits in the English language and the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. She surveyed the darkest corners of Internet chat rooms, and made a pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all. Now she leads us on a compelling journey into the cult and culture behind the obituary page and the unusual lives we don't quite appreciate until they're gone.
A former staff writer for Life and an editor at Esquire, Redbook, and Outside, Marilyn Johnson is the author of The Dead Beat. She lives in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
“A joyful book about obituaries? Absolutely! Marilyn Johnson pulls it off with death-defying grace, insight, charm, and wit.”
-Lee Eisenberg, author of The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life
“[Marilyn Johnson]’s written a warm, funny, appreciative book that, ironically enough, should live forever. But get it now.”
-Roy Blount, Jr., author of Feet On The Street: Rambles Around New Orleans
“A charming, lyrical book about the men and women who write obituaries… sly, droll, and completely winning.”
-David Halberstam
“A beautifully written, funny, and fascinating tour through the unexpectedly lively world of obituaries.”
-Lisa Grunwald, author of Women’s Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present
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