The Dead Beat: The Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries

"Obituaries are history as it is happening." Many newspapers readers go straight to the obituaries pages, to celebrate the life of the pharmacist who was also a spy, the school dinner lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess. Marilyn Johnson investigates what makes the obit pages so interesting, finding the people who write about the dead and savouring the most caustic and literate obits of all. She leads us into the culture behind the obituary page. The result is a compelling history and guide to obituaries, a literary journey through recent history and a celebration of the unusual lives we don't appreciate until they are gone. This title is guaranteed to receive massive media attention, review coverage and serialisation. Tens of thousands of people are fascinated by obits and this is a literate and literary guide, accessible and entertaining. This is a possible 'word of mouth' success for Christmas, in the style of Lynne Truss. It is a gift book to buy for anyone. It has attention-grabbing jacket design.

Title - The Dead Beat: The Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries

Edition -

Author - Marilyn Johnson

ISBN 13 - 9780285637771

Imprint - Souvenir Press Ltd

Publisher - Profile Books Ltd

Date Published - 26/10/2006

Prize -

No. of pages -

Binding Type - Hardback

Dimensions - x x mm

Weight - g

Languages - English