The Dead Beat, Marilyn Johnson
The Dead Beat, Marilyn Johnson
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
Club: $9.49

The Dead Beat

Author: Marilyn Johnson

Narrator: Marilyn Johnson

Unabridged: 6 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 10/05/2010


Synopsis

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.

About Marilyn Johnson

Marilyn Johnson is a former editor and writer for Life, Esquire, and Outside magazines, and lives with her husband, Rob Fleder, in New York's Hudson Valley.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rachael on July 08, 2007

This book came to me by way of providence. I decided one day that I would like to read a book about obituaries. Shortly after, (voila) I came upon this book at the Boston Fine Arts Museum bookstore. More specifically, Johnson writes about the blossoming cult following obituaries have been attracting......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on April 27, 2008

I picked this book up because I liked the cover. Look at it. It’s so catchy, it almost looks like a McSweeny’s book. But it’s not. It’s almost that clever- but not quite. I wasn’t quite sure how Marilyn Johnson was going to sustain a book about obituaries for 223 pages, and the answer is she doesn’t......more

Goodreads review by Kyla on March 11, 2008

I am obituary junkie, at least I was until I started getting the NY Times which spends more time on engagements in Sunday Styles than it does the obits of ordinary people. And that's where I split from the author of this book - she prefers the obits of the famous and noted that the English papers an......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on April 08, 2013

The world of obituary writing is slightly larger than I suppose I would have imagined it, had I imagined it at all. Johnson brings to light the differences in newspapers, the styles of various writers (and their conferences!), and even talks about some of the obituary "fans." I thought the sections......more

Goodreads review by Alyce on February 22, 2012

As someone who enjoys meandering through old cemeteries, gazing at tombstones and wondering about the people who lie below, I was excited at the prospect of an entire book about obituaries. Author Marilyn Johnson focuses not so much on interesting obituaries themselves but on the craft of the creati......more