The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries

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 ...