Customer Reviews

Immortality and the Law: The Rising Power of the American Dead

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One of the best, most enlightening, and beautifully clear books I have read. I poked around briefly on the web to see what kind of publicity it has received, and am amazed at how little there is so far. Jon Stewart should invite Ray Madoff to be a guest on the Daily Show to give it a boost, because the book, while dealing with a complex (and on the face of it, uncomfortable) topic, introduces us readers to far reaching changes that affect us all deeply -- and Stewart's erudition and wit can help broaden the book's readership, which it surely deserves. This book has a simple and original message that ties together many loose ends about American values, and about how changes in our laws in recent years make money increasingly paramount in determining how our body parts, our financial and creative assets, our reputations and our intentions live on after we die.

I can't believe anyone made estate law so interesting! As an aspiring law student, I found this book to be refreshing and captivating. The text was extremely accessible, and Madoff's interest in the subject and sense of humor make the book a pleasure to read from start to finish. This is a must-read!

This short book covers control of the body/organs after death, control of weath via transfers to relatives and to charity, and control of intellectual property in the form of copyright and the right of publicity. Madoff argues that Americans in particular have given far too much power to the dead hands of the wealthy, both in IP and in distributing their wealth, subsidizing transfers to heirs or charities that might not do much to serve the overall social interest. He would prefer a more Jeffersonian approach denying that the dead have enforceable interests. I'm sympathetic, but the part of the book about actual dead bodies isn't particularly connected to the thesis--perhaps because everyone, rich or poor, leaves behind a body (cryogenics notwithstanding) and thus the law of dead bodies hasn't been so much subjected to the distortions that are really about wealth (though he does mention the history of bodysnatching, which the rich feared and the poor just had to deal with).

Immortality and the Law is a great book, and not just for lawyers. It's an eye-opening account of how the law treats the property and rights of the dead. If you wonder how the rich stay rich from generation to generation, this book is a must read.