Product Description

The obituaries that appear in The Economist are remarkable because of the unpredictable selection of people to be written about, the surprising lives they lead - but also for the style in which the obituary is written. The selection for this book ranges far and wide, including Jean Bedel Bokassa and Pope Jean Paul II, Pamela Harriman and Harry Oppenheimer, Akio Morita and J K Galbraith, Jean Baudrillard and Syd Barrett, Estee Lauder and Hunter Thomson, Bip (the legendary mime artist Marcel Marceau) and even Alex the African Grey (ScienceÂ’s best known parrot).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82101 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From the Inside Flap
The obituaries that appear in The Economist are remarkable because of the unpredictable selection of people to be written about, the surprising lives they led – and also for the style in which the obituary is written. Ann Wroe, the current obituaries editor, says she likes to “get the essence” right away. Discovering Arthur Miller had been a carpenter made her realise how beautifully crafted his plays were, and after Hunter Thompson committed suicide his obituary began “There were always way too many guns around at Hunter S. ThompsonÂ’s farm” The EconomistÂ’s obituary column was introduced in 1995 and the selection of over 200 obituaries for this book ranges far and wide to include Jean Bédel Bokassa and Pope John Paul II, Jean Baudrillard and Syd Barrett, Pamela Harriman and Harry Oppenheimer, Estée Lauder and Ingmar Bergman, Bip (the mime artist, Marcel Marceau) and Alex the African Grey (scienceÂ’s best-known parrot).

From the Back Cover
“Memorialised but not embalmed, here are the famous and near-forgotten; gurus and fakes; a language which died with one last woman speaker, and the man who spoke fifty; a straight man, a eunuch, many crooked men and a banjo-plucker, one untouchable and several aristocrats, not forgetting the inventor of catastrophe theory. This book shows the human world to be more incorrigibly plural than its customary packaging – and reaches the parts other obituary volumes cannot reach.” Andrew Marr “There is no chariot as elegant for a final send-off as The Economist obit. Each one is a literary marvel, a dazzling ride through an era. The subjects are lucky (except for the death part): they cross to the other side in incomparable style.” Marilyn Johnson, author of The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries

About the Author
Ann Wroe trained as a medieval historian. She joined The Economist in 1976 to cover American politics, and has been Books and Arts Editor (1988-1992), American Editor (1992-2000) and is currently Special Reports and Obituaries Editor. She is also the author of several highly acclaimed books: Being Shelley, Pilate and Perkin. Keith Colquhoun worked for many years for The Economist and covered Asia before he became the Obituaries Editor. He is also the writer of more than ten novels including Killing Stalin and Filthy Rich.

Customer Reviews

An interesting and suprising compilation
This book includes around 200 obituaries, published in 'The Economist' from 1995 to 2008. The format of every obituary is similar: about 132 lines and a photograph. The people represented in this compilation has a very wide range: some of them are well known, others are not. This volume is a good place to look for a peculiar person, to find a eccentric character; of course, I have my favourites: a japanese gheisa, a french colaborationist, an indian bandit ... It has a surprise quality -like going hunting-: before reading the obituary, you do not know if the person it's really going to interest you. Surprises abound. Most part of the time you get a good history, and a fine and brief biography. Finally, and this is decisive, the literary style is splendid: crisp, elegant, clever, humorous. Good art.

Life Purpose
This is an excellent read. Great for dipping in and out of, or just working through. Some of the obits I already knew from reading the Economist weekly over the years, but all are so well written, they are worth reading again. I find it inspirational and enlightening to read about the lives of others.The Economist obits are just the right length to give a sense of the person so you can go read more elsewhere if you want to, or just move on to the next character. The balance is great too without any moral judgment of the person.
I use a write your own obituary exercise in my coaching work, for people who want more purpose in life, and the Economist obits are a great resource for that.

What a laugh!
I started reading this in hospital much to the amusement of the doctor and nurses...it's a great and entertaining read and the beauty of it is that it can be taken up and put down at will as the obituaries take up no more than two pages each...super for busy people