Death & Dying, Life & Living

We strive to assist you in demonstrating to your students that a course on death, dying and bereavement has important lessons to offer about life and living.

The underlying structure of this text draws on extensive demographic and mortality data, including final data available on deaths, deaths rates and causes for the following groups: the U.S. population as a whole; four selected cultural and racial subgroups; children, adolescents, young and middle-aged adults and older adults; and Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. We also provide the most recent NCHS data available on average life expectancy and place of death, as well as on accidental deaths, homicide and overdose drug deaths.

Our prologue is Dick Kalish’s delightful story called “The Horse on the Dining-Room Table,” in which the Guru tells us: “[I]f you speak about the horse, then you will find that others can also speak about the horse -- most others, at least, if you are gentle and kind as you speak…You cannot make magic to have the horse disappear, but you can speak of the horse and thereby render it less powerful.” That is the guidance everyone needs for coming together in the course.

Each of the 20 chapters in this text begins with a Vignette or Case Study to set the context for the materials that follow.