Obituaries in American Culture

Obituaries in American Culture

Author: Hume, Janice

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2010-03-05

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9781604736489

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What obituaries tell us about our culture, past and present, based upon a study of more than 8,000 newspaper obituaries from 1818 to 1930


Book Synopsis Obituaries in American Culture by : Hume, Janice

Download or read book Obituaries in American Culture written by Hume, Janice and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2010-03-05 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What obituaries tell us about our culture, past and present, based upon a study of more than 8,000 newspaper obituaries from 1818 to 1930


Obituaries in American Culture

Obituaries in American Culture

Author: Janice Hume

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2010-03-05

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1628469986

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“Within the short period of a year, she was a bride, a beloved wife and companion, a mother, a corpse,” reported The National Intelligencer on the death of Elizabeth Buchanan in 1838. Such obituaries fascinate us. Few of us realize that, when examined historically, they can reveal not only information about the departed but also much about American culture and about who and what we value. They also offer hints about the way Americans view death. This book also will fascinate, for it surveys more than 8,000 newspaper obituaries from 1818 to 1930 to show what they reveal about our culture. It shows how, in memorializing individual citizens, obituaries make a public expression of our values. Far from being staid or morbid, these death notices offer a lively look at a changing America. Indeed, obits are little windows through which to view America's cultural history. In the nineteenth century, they spoke of a person's character, in the twentieth of a person's work and wealth. In the days when women were valued mainly in their relationships with men, their obituaries were about the men in their lives. Then, as now, important friendships make a difference, for sometimes a death has been deemed newsworthy only because of whom the deceased knew. In 1838 when a fifty-year-old Virginian named William P. Custis died “after a long and wasting illness,” readers of The Daily National Intelligencer learned about his generous hospitality, his sterling business principles, and his kindness as a neighbor and husband. Custis's obituary not only recorded the fact of his death but also celebrated his virtues. The newspaper obituary has a commemorative role. It distills the essence of a citizen's life, and it reflects what society values and wants to remember about the deceased. Throughout our history, these published accounts have revealed changing values. They provide a link between public remembrances of individuals and the collective memory of a great American past. In obits of yesteryear, men were brave, gallant, vigilant, bold, honest, and dutiful. Women were patient, resigned, obedient, affectionate, amiable, pious, gentle, virtuous, tender, and useful. Mining newspapers of New York City, New Orleans, Baltimore, Chicago, and San Francisco, along with two early national papers, Niles' Weekly Register and The National Intelligencer, Janice Hume has produced a portrait of America, an entertaining history, and a revealing look at the things Americans have valued.


Book Synopsis Obituaries in American Culture by : Janice Hume

Download or read book Obituaries in American Culture written by Janice Hume and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2010-03-05 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Within the short period of a year, she was a bride, a beloved wife and companion, a mother, a corpse,” reported The National Intelligencer on the death of Elizabeth Buchanan in 1838. Such obituaries fascinate us. Few of us realize that, when examined historically, they can reveal not only information about the departed but also much about American culture and about who and what we value. They also offer hints about the way Americans view death. This book also will fascinate, for it surveys more than 8,000 newspaper obituaries from 1818 to 1930 to show what they reveal about our culture. It shows how, in memorializing individual citizens, obituaries make a public expression of our values. Far from being staid or morbid, these death notices offer a lively look at a changing America. Indeed, obits are little windows through which to view America's cultural history. In the nineteenth century, they spoke of a person's character, in the twentieth of a person's work and wealth. In the days when women were valued mainly in their relationships with men, their obituaries were about the men in their lives. Then, as now, important friendships make a difference, for sometimes a death has been deemed newsworthy only because of whom the deceased knew. In 1838 when a fifty-year-old Virginian named William P. Custis died “after a long and wasting illness,” readers of The Daily National Intelligencer learned about his generous hospitality, his sterling business principles, and his kindness as a neighbor and husband. Custis's obituary not only recorded the fact of his death but also celebrated his virtues. The newspaper obituary has a commemorative role. It distills the essence of a citizen's life, and it reflects what society values and wants to remember about the deceased. Throughout our history, these published accounts have revealed changing values. They provide a link between public remembrances of individuals and the collective memory of a great American past. In obits of yesteryear, men were brave, gallant, vigilant, bold, honest, and dutiful. Women were patient, resigned, obedient, affectionate, amiable, pious, gentle, virtuous, tender, and useful. Mining newspapers of New York City, New Orleans, Baltimore, Chicago, and San Francisco, along with two early national papers, Niles' Weekly Register and The National Intelligencer, Janice Hume has produced a portrait of America, an entertaining history, and a revealing look at the things Americans have valued.


The Economist Book of Obituaries

The Economist Book of Obituaries

Author: Keith Colquhoun

Publisher: Bloomberg Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13:

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For 10 years, "The Economist" has included unique and original obituaries in a popular column. The selections are remarkable because of the people written about, the surprising lives they led, and the brilliant writing style. This volume gathers 200 of the best obituaries.


Book Synopsis The Economist Book of Obituaries by : Keith Colquhoun

Download or read book The Economist Book of Obituaries written by Keith Colquhoun and published by Bloomberg Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For 10 years, "The Economist" has included unique and original obituaries in a popular column. The selections are remarkable because of the people written about, the surprising lives they led, and the brilliant writing style. This volume gathers 200 of the best obituaries.


This Republic of Suffering

This Republic of Suffering

Author: Drew Gilpin Faust

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2009-01-06

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0375703837

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • An "extraordinary ... profoundly moving" history (The New York Times Book Review) of the American Civil War that reveals the ways that death on such a scale changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation. An estiated 750,000 soldiers lost their lives in the American Civil War. An equivalent proportion of today's population would be seven and a half million. In This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust describes how the survivors managed on a practical level and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the unprecedented carnage with its belief in a benevolent God. Throughout, the voices of soldiers and their families, of statesmen, generals, preachers, poets, surgeons, nurses, northerners and southerners come together to give us a vivid understanding of the Civil War's most fundamental and widely shared reality. With a new introduction by the author, and a new foreword by Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


Book Synopsis This Republic of Suffering by : Drew Gilpin Faust

Download or read book This Republic of Suffering written by Drew Gilpin Faust and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-01-06 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • An "extraordinary ... profoundly moving" history (The New York Times Book Review) of the American Civil War that reveals the ways that death on such a scale changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation. An estiated 750,000 soldiers lost their lives in the American Civil War. An equivalent proportion of today's population would be seven and a half million. In This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust describes how the survivors managed on a practical level and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the unprecedented carnage with its belief in a benevolent God. Throughout, the voices of soldiers and their families, of statesmen, generals, preachers, poets, surgeons, nurses, northerners and southerners come together to give us a vivid understanding of the Civil War's most fundamental and widely shared reality. With a new introduction by the author, and a new foreword by Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


The World of Obituaries

The World of Obituaries

Author: Mushira Eid

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9780814327555

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This unusual book, the world of obituaries looks at obituaries as a rich source of information on cultural representation of gender. It examines obituaries published from 1938 to 1998 in three cultures - Egypt, Iran, and the United States - to analysis how women and men are represented in their death notices and how these representations have change over time. It also shows how obituaries, viewed as texts, at times converge within but often diverge from expected norms. Mushira Eid has applied quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques to 4,400 obituaries, using names, titles, and occupations as linguistic symbols of identity. Data were collected for a month at ten-year intervals to measure change. From them, she demonstrates differences within the world of obituaries, relates this world to the world at large, and constructs a model based on this comparison. Resulting facts are placed within the context of women's movements in the three cultures and other sociocultural and political events that influenced the perception of gender roles. The World of Obituaries offers a unique synthesis of information on women and public space in three cultures. It opens a new window on gende


Book Synopsis The World of Obituaries by : Mushira Eid

Download or read book The World of Obituaries written by Mushira Eid and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unusual book, the world of obituaries looks at obituaries as a rich source of information on cultural representation of gender. It examines obituaries published from 1938 to 1998 in three cultures - Egypt, Iran, and the United States - to analysis how women and men are represented in their death notices and how these representations have change over time. It also shows how obituaries, viewed as texts, at times converge within but often diverge from expected norms. Mushira Eid has applied quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques to 4,400 obituaries, using names, titles, and occupations as linguistic symbols of identity. Data were collected for a month at ten-year intervals to measure change. From them, she demonstrates differences within the world of obituaries, relates this world to the world at large, and constructs a model based on this comparison. Resulting facts are placed within the context of women's movements in the three cultures and other sociocultural and political events that influenced the perception of gender roles. The World of Obituaries offers a unique synthesis of information on women and public space in three cultures. It opens a new window on gende


Journalism in a Culture of Grief

Journalism in a Culture of Grief

Author: Carolyn Kitch

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-08-21

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1135862133

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This book considers the cultural meanings of death in American journalism and the role of journalism in interpretations and enactments of public grief, which has returned to an almost Victorian level. A number of researchers have begun to address this growing collective preoccupation with death in modern life; few scholars, however, have studied the central forum for the conveyance and construction of public grief today: news media. News reports about death have a powerful impact and cultural authority because they bring emotional immediacy to matters of fact, telling stories of real people who die in real circumstances and real people who mourn them. Moreover, through news media, a broader audience mourns along with the central characters in those stories, and, in turn, news media cover the extended rituals. Journalism in a Culture of Grief examines this process through a range of types of death and types of news media. It discusses the reporting of horrific events such as September 11 and Hurricane Katrina; it considers the cultural role of obituaries and the instructive work of coverage of teens killed due to their own risky behaviors; and it assesses the role of news media in conducting national, patriotic memorial rituals.


Book Synopsis Journalism in a Culture of Grief by : Carolyn Kitch

Download or read book Journalism in a Culture of Grief written by Carolyn Kitch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers the cultural meanings of death in American journalism and the role of journalism in interpretations and enactments of public grief, which has returned to an almost Victorian level. A number of researchers have begun to address this growing collective preoccupation with death in modern life; few scholars, however, have studied the central forum for the conveyance and construction of public grief today: news media. News reports about death have a powerful impact and cultural authority because they bring emotional immediacy to matters of fact, telling stories of real people who die in real circumstances and real people who mourn them. Moreover, through news media, a broader audience mourns along with the central characters in those stories, and, in turn, news media cover the extended rituals. Journalism in a Culture of Grief examines this process through a range of types of death and types of news media. It discusses the reporting of horrific events such as September 11 and Hurricane Katrina; it considers the cultural role of obituaries and the instructive work of coverage of teens killed due to their own risky behaviors; and it assesses the role of news media in conducting national, patriotic memorial rituals.


Slave Culture : Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America

Slave Culture : Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America

Author: Sterling Stuckey Professor of History Northwestern University

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1987-04-23

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 0198021240

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How were blacks in American slavery formed, out of a multiplicity of African ethnic peoples, into a single people? In this major study of Afro-American culture, Sterling Stuckey, a leading thinker on black nationalism for the past twenty years, explains how different African peoples interacted during the nineteenth century to achieve a common culture. He finds that, at the time of emancipation, slaves were still overwhelmingly African in culture, a conclusion with profound implications for theories of black liberation and for the future of race relations in America. By examining anthropological evidence about Central and West African cultural traditions--Bakongo, Ibo, Dahomean, Mendi and others--and exploring the folklore of the American slave, Stuckey has arrived at an important new cross-cultural analysis of the Pan-African impulse among slaves that contributed to the formation of a black ethos. He establishes, for example, the centrality of an ancient African ritual--the Ring Shout or Circle Dance--to the black American religious and artistic experience. Black nationalist theories, the author points out, are those most in tune with the implication of an African presence in America during and since slavery. Casting a fresh new light on these ideas, Stuckey provides us with fascinating profiles of such nineteenth century figures as David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet, and Frederick Douglas. He then considers in detail the lives and careers of W. E. B. Dubois and Paul Robeson in this century, describing their ambition that blacks in American society, while struggling to end racism, take on roles that truly reflected their African heritage. These concepts of black liberation, Stuckey suggests, are far more relevant to the intrinsic values of black people than integrationist thought on race relations. But in a final revelation he concludes that, with the exception of Paul Robeson, the ironic tendency of black nationalists has been to underestimate the depths of African culture in black Americans and the sophistication of the slave community they arose from.


Book Synopsis Slave Culture : Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America by : Sterling Stuckey Professor of History Northwestern University

Download or read book Slave Culture : Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America written by Sterling Stuckey Professor of History Northwestern University and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1987-04-23 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How were blacks in American slavery formed, out of a multiplicity of African ethnic peoples, into a single people? In this major study of Afro-American culture, Sterling Stuckey, a leading thinker on black nationalism for the past twenty years, explains how different African peoples interacted during the nineteenth century to achieve a common culture. He finds that, at the time of emancipation, slaves were still overwhelmingly African in culture, a conclusion with profound implications for theories of black liberation and for the future of race relations in America. By examining anthropological evidence about Central and West African cultural traditions--Bakongo, Ibo, Dahomean, Mendi and others--and exploring the folklore of the American slave, Stuckey has arrived at an important new cross-cultural analysis of the Pan-African impulse among slaves that contributed to the formation of a black ethos. He establishes, for example, the centrality of an ancient African ritual--the Ring Shout or Circle Dance--to the black American religious and artistic experience. Black nationalist theories, the author points out, are those most in tune with the implication of an African presence in America during and since slavery. Casting a fresh new light on these ideas, Stuckey provides us with fascinating profiles of such nineteenth century figures as David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet, and Frederick Douglas. He then considers in detail the lives and careers of W. E. B. Dubois and Paul Robeson in this century, describing their ambition that blacks in American society, while struggling to end racism, take on roles that truly reflected their African heritage. These concepts of black liberation, Stuckey suggests, are far more relevant to the intrinsic values of black people than integrationist thought on race relations. But in a final revelation he concludes that, with the exception of Paul Robeson, the ironic tendency of black nationalists has been to underestimate the depths of African culture in black Americans and the sophistication of the slave community they arose from.


St. Burl's Obituary

St. Burl's Obituary

Author: Daniel Akst

Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13:

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A burlesque of death, resurrection and dinner, this novel is a love story, a thriller, and an allegory on the state of modern manhood. When he stumbles one night into a gangland slaying Burleigh Bennett's life of moral virtue and culinary vice is turned upside down.


Book Synopsis St. Burl's Obituary by : Daniel Akst

Download or read book St. Burl's Obituary written by Daniel Akst and published by MacAdam/Cage Publishing. This book was released on 1996 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A burlesque of death, resurrection and dinner, this novel is a love story, a thriller, and an allegory on the state of modern manhood. When he stumbles one night into a gangland slaying Burleigh Bennett's life of moral virtue and culinary vice is turned upside down.


Popular Media and the American Revolution

Popular Media and the American Revolution

Author: Janice Hume

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-20

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 113626941X

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The American Revolution—an event that gave America its first real "story" as an independent nation, distinct from native and colonial origins—continues to live on in the public's memory, celebrated each year on July 4 with fireworks and other patriotic displays. But to identify as an American is to connect to a larger national narrative, one that begins in revolution. In Popular Media and the American Revolution, journalism historian Janice Hume examines the ways that generations of Americans have remembered and embraced the Revolution through magazines, newspapers, and digital media. Overall, Popular Media and the American Revolution demonstrates how the story and characters of the Revolution have been adjusted, adapted, and co-opted by popular media over the years, fostering a cultural identity whose founding narrative was sculpted, ultimately, in revolution. Examining press and popular media coverage of the war, wartime anniversaries, and the Founding Fathers (particularly, "uber-American hero" George Washington), Hume provides insights into the way that journalism can and has shaped a culture's evolving, collective memory of its past. Dr. Janice Hume is a professor and head of the Department of Journalism in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She is author of Obituaries in American Culture (University Press of Mississippi, 2000) and co-author of Journalism in a Culture of Grief (Routledge, 2008).


Book Synopsis Popular Media and the American Revolution by : Janice Hume

Download or read book Popular Media and the American Revolution written by Janice Hume and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-20 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Revolution—an event that gave America its first real "story" as an independent nation, distinct from native and colonial origins—continues to live on in the public's memory, celebrated each year on July 4 with fireworks and other patriotic displays. But to identify as an American is to connect to a larger national narrative, one that begins in revolution. In Popular Media and the American Revolution, journalism historian Janice Hume examines the ways that generations of Americans have remembered and embraced the Revolution through magazines, newspapers, and digital media. Overall, Popular Media and the American Revolution demonstrates how the story and characters of the Revolution have been adjusted, adapted, and co-opted by popular media over the years, fostering a cultural identity whose founding narrative was sculpted, ultimately, in revolution. Examining press and popular media coverage of the war, wartime anniversaries, and the Founding Fathers (particularly, "uber-American hero" George Washington), Hume provides insights into the way that journalism can and has shaped a culture's evolving, collective memory of its past. Dr. Janice Hume is a professor and head of the Department of Journalism in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She is author of Obituaries in American Culture (University Press of Mississippi, 2000) and co-author of Journalism in a Culture of Grief (Routledge, 2008).


The Dead Beat

The Dead Beat

Author: Marilyn Johnson

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 0061850365

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A light-hearted look at the history and practice of “the ultimate human-interest story,” the obituary. “What a wonderful surprise—a charming, lyrical book about the men and women who write obituaries. The Dead Beat is sly, droll, and completely winning.”— David Halberstam Where can readers celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess? The obituary page, of course. Enthralled by these fascinating former lives, Marilyn Johnson tumbled into the little known world of the obituary page to find out what made it so compelling. She sought out the best obits in the English language, and chased the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. Surveying Internet chat rooms, surviving a mass gathering of obituarists, and making the pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all, she leads us into the cult and culture behind this fascinating segment of our daily news.


Book Synopsis The Dead Beat by : Marilyn Johnson

Download or read book The Dead Beat written by Marilyn Johnson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A light-hearted look at the history and practice of “the ultimate human-interest story,” the obituary. “What a wonderful surprise—a charming, lyrical book about the men and women who write obituaries. The Dead Beat is sly, droll, and completely winning.”— David Halberstam Where can readers celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess? The obituary page, of course. Enthralled by these fascinating former lives, Marilyn Johnson tumbled into the little known world of the obituary page to find out what made it so compelling. She sought out the best obits in the English language, and chased the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. Surveying Internet chat rooms, surviving a mass gathering of obituarists, and making the pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all, she leads us into the cult and culture behind this fascinating segment of our daily news.