An Anthology of Death, Dying, and the Living

An Anthology of Death, Dying, and the Living offers students a multifaceted, cross-disciplinary, and intellectual exploration of death, what it means to be human, and what it means to truly live. Through a historic and anthropological lens, students read articles that address diverse domestic and international events and convene a variety of perspectives in terms of culture and identity as they relate to death, dying, and living.

The anthology is divided into five distinct sections: Should We Fear Death? To Die is to Have Lived!; Existential Death—Suicide?; Death and the Family; Death and the Self (Grief, Mourning, and Elegies); and Biomedical Death—What Does it Mean to Die with Dignity?. Each section features articles from a variety of sources that draw from the disciplines of anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, biology, politics, government and law, and religious studies. Students experience a holistic and complete examination of various understandings, interpretations, and viewpoints about life, death, and the interplay between the two.

The revised first edition includes two new readings. The first is an article by the editor, Atiba Rougier, that considers the national—and personal—impacts of 9/11 and COVID-19, and the second is a piece by a gastroenterologist and chronicles how their role at a hospital changed during the pandemic.

An accessible, emotional, and thought-provoking collection, An Anthology of Death, Dying, and the Living is well suited for courses that explore death and dying from a sociological, psychological, philosophical, or anthropological perspective.