The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich, and Powerful Really Died (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

No matter what your station in society, everybody has to go sometime. Even the wealthy, powerful, and world-renowned must ultimately meet their Maker—though some have departed this life more ignobly than they might have wished.

• From Mozart to rock and roll, which performers ended their lives on the wrong note?
• What famous U.S. bridge is named after an explorer who was eaten by cannibals?
• Everyone wants to hit the lottery, but does Lady Luck visit winners with deadly fangs?
• Plus: Learn the real fate of Gilligan's Island castaways and all your favorite TV actors as well as famous writers, senators, saints, dictators, and philosophers, among many others.

Michael Largo, the man who illuminated readers on the myriad ways of death in Final Exits, has compiled a fascinating, off-beat, and darkly humorous necrology that provides the grim, often outrageous details about the passing of influential persons. Meticulously researched—employing archaeological records, published obituaries, official documents, and forensic evidence—this authoritative, one-of-a-kind reference presents the unabashed truth about a multitude of celebrity deaths, while examining the various deeds, misdeeds, and lifestyle quirks that hastened the demise and determined the departed's role in history and popular myth. The Portable Obituary has the skinny on what made our late icons—whether through overindulgence or neglect: on the john, in the sack, or in some spectacular accident—what they are today: dead!

About the Author

Michael Largo has been collecting statistics and information on the American way of dying for more than a decade. He is the author of The Portable Obituary (a Bram Stoker Award Finalist), Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die (winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction), and three novels; the former editor of New York Poetry; and the researcher/archivist for the film company Allied Artists. He lives outside Atlanta with his family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; 1 edition (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061231665
• ISBN-13: 978-0061231667
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #511,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading, November 20, 2007

By	Gabriel Ricard "www.bloodzonemedia.com" - See all my reviews

Plenty of books obsessed with scandal and buzz words in the vein of Weekly World News have been written on the subject of celebrity death. The idea of a book that approaches this suggest with respect, intelligence, and a little book of good old-fashioned dark humor is a rare thing indeed. Which makes The Portable Obituary all the better. This is an enormously entertaining, insightful, and fascinating read. Essential for anyone who wants a book that actually knows what it's talking about.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Portable Obituary- Largo Has Another Hit!, November 20, 2007

By	J. L. Riggle "L. Riggle" (Winter Park, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The "Portable Orbituary" is well written and easy to read. The book feeds our insatiable appetite for information on the famous, rich and powerful. Just as "Final Exits", Largo's previous book, is difficult to put down, his latest effort, "The Portable Obituary" will keep you page turning from start to finish.
Largo's latest book would make a great Christmas present for the celebrity junkies on your list.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting & Entertaining, October 24, 2007

By	T. Press - See all my reviews

This book has an interesting and varied collection of obituaries that read more like mini-biographies, but always include the answer to the most important question--to me anyway--how did they die. The odd and the common ways numerous rich and famous people, from movie stars to inventors, to historic legends met their end were fascinating, and even though I planned to read one, I kept flipping to the next. I appreciated how nothing was sensationalized, and rather serious though entertaining with a sometimes ironic touch of absurdity to many entries. I read a lot of books like this--but this one is refreshingly original.