Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Life: 50 Eulogies to Lift the Spirit

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This is a book of eulogies to people who made their lives count, from Bette Davis to Rosa Parks to an achingly poignant chapter on the heroes of 9/11. Reading this book, I expected to be saddened but instead found it strangely uplifing.
Be sure to check out the chapter devoted to parents, which includes my favorite eulogy: Pat Conroy's remembrance of his father, aka the Great Santini.

Other great eulogies: Marilyn Monroe, Greogory Peck, Edward R. Murrow, Mickey Mantle, Jerry Garcia, Coretta Scott King, Bob Hope, Princess Diana, Judy Garland, and Mister Rogers!

Warning: Reading this book will make you re-evaluate your own life....

about each person eulogized in this book...
I loved this book - simple, to the point, uplifting and inspirational. But what really struck me most was that you don't read this book with a heavy heart but rather with a desire to gain insight into people that we either knew much about or very little. One of my favorites was the eulogy written for Father Mychal Judge who died in the World Trade Towers on 9/11. Tugged at the heart, yes, but I was enlightened to learn more about what kind of person he truly was - right to the end.
You might not sit and read this book straight through...although it's hard to put down once you get started. I found it to be a great 'cup of coffee read' time and time again.

I expected this book to move me -- after all, saying goodbye to 50 people who shaped our world for the better, cracking their lives open at the last minute by someone who knew them well enough to speak personally -- that's heady stuff. And eulogies aren't exactly fluffy fare. What surprised me was how much this book succeeds by its subtitle, not just lifting the spirit, but throwing down the gauntlet and making death into a celebration of life.

More, a celebration of 50 icons who shaped our world. (And throw in a few truly moving tributes to parents -- read the one Pat Conroy delivered for his father, The Great Santini, for an example of how to say goodbye to a difficult man. Brilliant. Honest. And resplendent with the kind of love that only comes from family, which is to say unconditional in the face of flaws.) Reading about Marilyn, Murrow, and everyone from Bette Davis to Mickey Mantle, one is flooded with a genuine sense of relief that they've been here to make our world a more colorful place. These eulogies are fairly intimate, drawing aside the curtain of celebrity and offfering a final look at the humanity of our icons.

Great eulogies don't drip with sentiment, and Copeland has combed through the great goodbyes from the las century or so to come up with a shiny handful of gems -- some funny, some irreverent, some heartrending, all poignant. Standouts include Father Mychal Judge, Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mantle, FDNY Captain Callahan, Katharine Graham, Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Garcia, Martin Luther King, and Elisabeth Kubler Ross.

The book has a lovely feel to it, and makes for either a quick coffee read -- 5 minutes at a time, including fascinating timelines for each icon -- or a primer in how to eulogize, or else a wonderful gift for someone who's just lost someone dear and could use a reminder: Death heightens the beauty of life.

This is the second volume of eulogies compiled by Copeland and I was inspired equally by both books. I experienced the eulogies as mini-biographies, as wonderful tributes, as lessons in life. As might be expected, some of the eulogies are more powerful than others. I especially enjoyed the eulogies of MLK, Ghandi, Leonard Bernstein, Ed Murrow and Mychal Judge. Reading the eulogies as a whole helped me to reflect on the ways people live their lives, define relationships, decide what is important and engage themselves. At the end, I walked away more inspired to live life to its fullest and celebrate my time in this world!

This is Copeland's second collection of eulogies -- and it's every bit as good as the first. There are a couple of distinctions here: Photos are added of the 50 departed in this volume and, this time, he includes a section on "9/11 Heroes."

Once again, you'll be rubbing shoulders with the 20th Century's brightest lights, including: Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Julia Child, John Belushi and Leonard Bernstein.

If you'd like to use this volume with a small group, Copeland once again gathers the eulogies into themed sections, among them: pioneers, parents, athletes and movie stars.

Enriching reading. You'll learn a lot -- but, more than that, you'll ponder your own life and ask: How will I be remembered?

These portraits of notable people are exceptionally interesting and moving, but, above all, I came away from the book inspired. Feeling dispirited in these troubled times? Pick up this volume and regain your optimism as you get an inside look at overcoming adversity, taking on great challenges and making one's life count.