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Handbook of Death and Dying (2 Volumes Set)

Topics in the Handbook of Death and Dying are presented as a collection of 103 comprehensive essays clustered in 10 general areas. The field of death studies is multidisciplinary; the more than 100 contributors are academics in sociology, psychology, social work, theology, history, medicine, law, and other areas of inquiry as well as practitioners in medicine, law, public policy, and mortuary sciences. Essays are gathered under general rubrics: in the first volume the section "Death in the Cultural Context" treats issues in confronting death, with essays on fear of death, death in popular culture, spiritualism, and more. The 12 essays that make up "Death in the Social Context" consider topics such as trends in mortality, accidental death, and terrorism. Suicide, capital punishment, euthanasia, and the hospice movement are among other topics in the first volume. The second volume deals with the response to death--the social ceremonies, the different ways of disposing of bodies, and the experiences of bereavement and survivorship. Ten essays on various aspects of the legalities of death are followed by a section on the response to death in literature, music, and art. The substantive essays are generally between 9 to 15 pages, with extensive bibliographies. A very deep and detailed index, close to 50 pages, easily leads the reader to more specific information.

The single-volume Encyclopedia of Death and Dying (Routledge, 2000) is much less comprehensive. Death and the Afterlife: A Cultural Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2000) deals with the funeral and afterlife beliefs of various cultures. In breadth and heft, the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying (2003) is most similar to the Handbook of Death and Dying. It is in a more traditional encyclopedic format with a mix of brief and longer entries. One can find similar information in both, and the two works share many of the same contributors, but the Handbook is perhaps more scholarly overall in tone. Both works are excellent and highly recommended. Although each has it strengths and slight differences in coverage (including the quirky--Elvis sightings in Macmillan, taxidermy as art in the Handbook), smaller libraries may be satisfied with the Macmillan work if it is already in the reference collection.

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