The Book Of Eulogies [Hardcover]

Phyllis Theroux (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Author Phyllis Theroux has assembled a large collection of funeral praises, and, amazingly, there's nothing morbid about it. A number of noted writers, including Thomas Merton, Peter Matthiessen, William Styron, H. L. Mencken, Hannah Arendt, and many others offer very lively thoughts on the departed. The book is well organized in thematic sections, and included in the more than 100 essays are a number of tributes to people whose lives may have been ordinary, but who also inspired very moving tributes. As editor Theroux notes in her introduction: "Some of the people are famous. Others are obscure. But all of them have one thing in common. When they died, someone wrote about them uncommonly well."

From Library Journal

Theroux has gathered over 100 eulogies delivered in the form of spoken tributes, editorials, letters of condolence, essays, and poetry. Many of these testimonials are eloquently penned by the well known to commemorate the well known (e.g., Thomas Merton on Flannery O'Connor, Robert F. Kennedy on Martin Luther King). Others are equally compelling memorials to unknown souls by everyday people. There are helpful commentaries by the author. A worthwhile addition to any collection.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (May 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684822512
• ISBN-13: 978-0684822518
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #336,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent perspective on the meaning of our life on earth, February 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book Of Eulogies (Hardcover)

You cannot read this book without getting a sense of the importance of each soul and the real value in our interactions with other people. For it is how others remember us that matters, and how we touch each others lives that lasts. It is a very moving collection.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sensible anthology, November 9, 2000

By	Elsie Wilson (Aberystwyth, Cymru) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book Of Eulogies (Hardcover)

A collection of eulogies, as the title implies, along with some letters and writings on death and grief. It is a curious fact that, as shown here, the most unlikely people can be eloquent in the face of death. Many of the eulogies here quoted are beautiful and moving not for the sake of the dead but for the power of the language used to carry them back to the hearers' and readers' memories. Especially noteworthy are Atatürk's memorial to soldiers ~ both Allies and Central Powers ~ who died at Gallipoli in W.W.I, Richard Selzer on his mother, Neru on Ghandi ~ more than can be listed. Not at all the morbid book one might think this would be; it is, in fact, more a celebration of the possibilities of life than a mourning about death.