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Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore (Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series)
By William L. Gibson. 2025
Keramat, holy graves and shrines, represent physical markers of Singapore’s history as a multi‑ethnic maritime trading center. They offered sanctified…
spaces not only for Muslims but also for the entire community in which they emerged. Maintained by self‑appointed caretakers, the stories of keramat often interweave fact with folklore that mirror the history and sensibilities of the community.While once an abundant part of the social landscape of Singapore, many keramat were destroyed during the post‑independence rush to develop. These keramat now face a second vanishing with memories of them fading as caretakers and community members age and pass away. In parallel, many modern Muslims consider keramat as a form of shirk, or polytheism, and tacitly consent to their destruction. This book concludes by critically examining the often‑tense relationship between keramat and authority, both secular and religious, from colonial to modern times. The dilemmas of grappling with puritanical norms and grassroots elaborations in varying modes of preservation are investigated using case studies from Singapore and the wider region.A vital resource for scholars, this work contributes to a people’s history of Singapore, one that both deepens and problematizes official historical accounts.
The New Death: Mortality and Death Care in the Twenty-First Century (School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series)
By Shannon Lee Dawdy and Tamara Kneese. 2022
The New Death brings together scholars who are intrigued by today&’s rapidly changing death practices and attitudes. New and different…
ways of treating the body and memorializing the dead are proliferating across global cities. Using ethnographic, historical, and media-based approaches, the contributors to this volume focus on new attitudes and practices around mortality and mourning—from the possibilities of digitally enhanced afterlives to industrialized &“necro-waste,&” the ethics of care, the meaning of secular rituals, and the political economy of death. Together, the chapters coalesce around the argument that there are two major currents running through the new death—reconfigurations of temporality and of intimacy. Pushing back against the folklorization endemic to anthropological studies of death practices and the whiteness of death studies as a field, the chapters strive to override divisions between the Global South and the Anglophone world, focusing instead on syncretization, globalization, and magic within the mundane.
Death and Dying in New Mexico
By Martina Will. 2007
In this exploration of how people lived and died in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century New Mexico, Martina Will weaves together…
the stories of individuals and communities in this cultural crossroads of the American Southwest. The wills and burial registers at the heart of this study provide insights into the variety of ways in which death was understood by New Mexicans living in a period of profound social and political transitions.This volume addresses the model of the good death that settlers and friars brought with them to New Mexico, challenges to the model's application, and the eventual erosion of the ideal. The text also considers the effects of public health legislation that sought to protect the public welfare, as well as responses to these controversial and unpopular reforms. Will discusses both cultural continuity and regional adaptation, examining Spanish-American deathways in New Mexico during the colonial (approximately 1700–1821), Mexican (1821–1848), and early Territorial (1848–1880) periods.
Expect the Unexpected: Bringing Peace, Healing, and Hope from the Other Side
By Bill Philipps. 2015
Love Reaches Us in Many WaysWith testimonies from everyday men and women, celebrities, business leaders, and one-time skeptics, Expect the…
Unexpected is an honest firsthand account of how spirits communicate with Bill Philipps, why he believes they chose him to do this, and how he works with them to ultimately convey their messages. As Philipps confirms, it is normal to ask questions about what happens to our loved ones after death and to hope to reconnect with them. He offers insight and suggestions to help you ask for and receive signs with or without a medium and shows why he is convinced that readings always contain the possibility for love, peace, healing, and hope.
The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial
By Elizabeth Fournier. 2018
Funeral expenses in the United States average more than $10,000. And every year conventional funerals bury millions of tons of…
wood, concrete, and metals, as well as millions of gallons of carcinogenic embalming fluid. There is a better way, and Elizabeth Fournier, affectionately dubbed the &“Green Reaper,&” walks you through it, step-by-step. She provides comprehensive and compassionate guidance, covering everything from green burial planning and home funeral basics to legal guidelines and outside-the-box options, such as burials at sea. Fournier points the way to green burial practices that consider both the environmental well-being of the planet and the economic well-being of loved ones.
The Slow Death of the Death Penalty: Toward a Postmortem
By Todd C. Peppers, Mary Welek Atwell, Jamie Almallen. 2025
Why the death penalty is in decline across the United StatesAcross the country, the death penalty is dying. Twenty-two states…
have abandoned state-sanctioned executions, including nine in the last fifteen years. Of the twenty-eight states that still have the death penalty, eight have not had an execution in over a decade. And public support for the death penalty has declined from 80% of the surveyed population in the early 1990s to approximately 50% today.As the death penalty slowly withers away, Todd C. Peppers, Jamie Almallen, and Mary Welek Atwell bring together a number of distinguished death-penalty scholars, activists, and attorneys to take an accounting of the damage inflicted by the machinery of death. Contributors to the book point to a range of different pathologies which have caused politicians and voters to turn against capital punishment, from unacceptable rates of false convictions and racially motivated prosecutions, to a clemency process poisoned by political factors.Essay topics include various dimensions of the death penalty, including racial and gender bias; economic costs; the conviction of juveniles, the mentally ill, and the factually innocent; Supreme Court decisions; and the failure of the death penalty to serve as a deterrent against crime. This important volume is an up-to-date accounting of the current state and, as the contributors argue, the future demise of the death penalty.
Holding Onto Air: The Art and Science of Building a Resilient Spirit
By Michele DeMarco. 2024
A top mental health writer, trauma researcher, and survivor illuminates the dual nature of loss—the science behind it and art…
of transforming it with a breakthrough book and truly holistic approach.After experiencing two rare heart attacks at the age of 33—and a third a decade later, DeMarco knows trauma intimately. Trauma breaks your relationship with time by upending your expectations, fracturing your memories and identity, and destroying your innocence.With poignant wisdom and refreshing insight DeMarco explodes traditional myths of resilience and shows what it takes to thrive through any of life's challenges. DeMarco situates meaningful challenge and loss specifically in the context of "lost innocence," and challenges common notions that we can think our way out of despair and back to a "normal" happy life when the unimaginable shatters it. Leveraging advances in emotion science, somatic psychology, neuroscience, and trauma, Holding Onto Air brings the body and spirit into the solution, as much as the mind, and so presents a truly integrated, "whole person" approach to recovering from lost innocence and building resilience. It also makes spirit accessible for anyone of any background or belief—or no aligned belief.More than a rudimentary map for navigating grief and loss' rocky terrain (with tired tropes and shop-worn strategies), DeMarco offers a unique and trusted guide for an arduous journey every human being will have to face—the realization of evil, pain, or mortality that occurs after a person experiences trauma.
Planet Claire, Suite for Cello and Sad-Eyed Lovers: A Memoir
By Jeff Porter. 2021
The second installment in Ann Hood’s Gracie Belle imprint challenges the traditional solemnity that characterizes nonfiction books of grief, loss,…
and sorrow.“Few readers will fail to be gripped by this tragically common story about death and what comes after for those left behind . . . A haunting and thought-provoking consideration of death and ‘how utterly it rips apart our lives.'” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred ReviewPlanet Claire is the story of the untimely death of the author’s wife and his candid account of the following year of madness and grief. As his life unravels, Porter analyzes his sadness with growing interest. He talks to Claire as if to evoke a presence, to mark a space for memory. He reports on his daily walks and shares observations of life’s sadness, while reminiscing about various moments in their life together. Like Orpheus, the author searches for a lost love, and what he finds is not the dog of doom but flashes of an intimate symmetry that brighten the darkest places of sorrow.The second title from Ann Hood’s Gracie Belle imprint, Planet Claire takes readers on a journey of sorrow that recalls memorable works by C.S. Lewis (A Grief Observed), Joan Didion (The Year of Magical Thinking), and Julian Barnes (Levels of Life). Porter’s memoir, however, is also playful, quirky, and self-ironic in a way that challenges the genre’s traditional solemnity. Like the novel Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, this is an unpredictably funny account of heartbreak, as if to say there’s something about the magnitude of loss that troubles even earnestness.
Now You See the Sky: A Memoir
By Catharine H. Murray. 2018
This memoir — the first release on best-selling author Ann Hood’s Gracie Belle imprint — about the fathomless loss of a…
beloved child reveals how tragedy can transform us and make us more fully alive.“Murray’s lucid meditations and living-in-the-moment attitude — e.g., providing simple pleasures like a favorite food to a sick child — serve as useful reminders to all of us that life is precious and fleeting and must be enjoyed to the fullest. It’s a simple message but an important one. As much a eulogy to Chan as a testament to the joy of life, the book is a heartwarming tale of dealing with life-altering loss . . . A tender, love-filled story of how one woman dealt with the loss of a young child.” —Kirkus Reviews “An extraordinary memoir. Forthright, honest and haunting . . . Murray’s memoir is wise and enlightened.” —Portland Press HeraldNow You See the Sky is a memoir about love, motherhood, and loss. When Catharine H. Murray travels to a small town on the banks of the Mekong River to work at a refugee camp, she falls in love and marries a local man with whom she has three sons. When their middle son is diagnosed with cancer at age five, their pursuit of a cure takes them from Thailand to Seattle, before they eventually return to Thailand, settling on a remote mountaintop. Full of honesty and grace, Now You See the Sky — the debut selection in Ann Hood’s new Gracie Belle imprint — allows the reader to witness the fathomless loss of a child and learn how tragedy can transform us, expand our vision, and make us more fully alive.Now You See the Sky is the debut selection of Ann Hood’s new nonfiction imprint with Akashic, Gracie Belle. Modeled after her experience writing the memoir Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, and named after her daughter, Grace, Hood’s imprint reaffirms for authors and readers that none of us is alone in our journeys.
Never the Same: Coming to Terms with the Death of a Parent
By Donna Schuurman. 2003
Children and teens who experience the death of a parent are never the same. Only in the last decade have…
counselors acknowledged that children grieve too, and that unresolved issues can negatively impact children into adulthood. Unaddressed grief can lead to depression, substance abuse, and relationship difficulties. For at least three generations of adults, these issues have been largely ignored. Having worked with thousands of families as Executive Director of the Dougy Center for Grieving Children, Donna Schuurman understands the dangers of unresolved grief better than anyone else. In Never the Same, Schuurman offers expert advice and encouragement to empower readers to reflect on their unique situation, come to terms with the influence of their parent's death, and live more healthful, peaceful lives.The only book of its kind, Never the Same is an essential companion for those still struggling with the early loss of a parent.
From Heartbreak to Wholeness: The Hero's Journey to Joy
By Kristine Carlson. 2018
A guidebook for discovering how heartbreak can become the doorway to profound meaning and joy from the bestselling co-creator of…
the Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff SeriesIn 2006, after building the bestselling franchise Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff with her husband Richard, Kristine Carlson faced a shattering loss—the sudden death of her beloved spouse. Woven together with the remarkable stories of others’ loss and recovery, her deeply moving story reveals a clear process of healing that is common to everyone and goes far beyond ordinary prescriptions for getting through hard times. In her new book, From Heartbreak to Wholeness, Kristine offers a life-altering map for navigating the heroic journey from loss to joy—one that ultimately awakens readers to a deep love affair with life.Every day, people suffer heartbreaks of some kind—loss of a loved one, divorce, illness, loss of a job or home—and seek to understand why these losses and traumas have befallen them and how they’ll make it through in one piece. For readers who have endured loss of any kind, Kristine takes them by the hand, showing them how to traverse their own jagged edge of growth and emerge as the hero whole, happy, and empowered. Each chapter of From Heartbreak to Wholeness includes powerful exercises in self-inquiry and reflection, along with step-by-step guidance for writing one’s own heroic story of healing. Journey with Kristine Carlson and learn how you can walk the path from heartbreak to wholeness.
Letters to My Daughters
By Emma Hannigan. 2018
** THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER **Some books are guaranteed to break your heart - and put it back together again.…
Letters to my Daughters is one of those wonderful books. Throughout their lives, the three Brady sisters have always been closer to their nanny May than to their own mother, Martha a busy midwife. May always thought of them as her daughters so when she dies suddenly, the sisters are left devastated -- especially when they learn that letters intended for them from May with final words of advice and love have gone missing.But what words of advice could the sisters need?Beatrice, owner of exclusive wedding boutiques, is busy and fulfilled. Rose has a beautiful daughter, a luxurious home and a thriving interiors company. And Jeannie, married to a wealthy plastic surgeon in L.A., wants for nothing. Except that each of the sisters carries a secret ...As they gather for the reading of May's will in Dublin, they must face some life-changing decisions. Will they ever learn the words of advice May had for them and discover who took the letters?Letters to my Daughters is a spellbinding story about the complicated bonds between women -- daughters, mothers, sisters -- and how love and happiness comes in many guises.
Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing
By Bronnie Ware. 2019
Revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide with translations in 29…
languages.After too many years of unfulfilling work, Bronnie Ware began searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or previous experience in the field, she found herself working in palliative care. During the time she spent tending to those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote an Internet blog post, outlining the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed. The post gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than three million readers worldwide in its first year. At the request of many, Bronnie subsequently wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, to share her story.Bronnie has had a colourful and diverse life. By applying the lessons of those nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone, if we make the right choices, to die with peace of mind.In this revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide, with translations in 29 languages, Bronnie expresses how significant these regrets are and how we can positively address these issues while we still have the time. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying gives hope for a better world. It is a courageous, life-changing book that will leave you feeling more compassionate and inspired to live the life you are truly here to live.
No Happy Endings: A Memoir
By Nora McInerny. 2019
The author of The Hot Young Widows Club and host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking returns with more…
hilarious meditations on her messy life.Life has a million different ways to kick you right in the chops. We lose love, lose jobs, lose our sense of self. For Nora McInerny, it was losing her husband, her father, and her unborn second child in one catastrophic year.That is what made Nora a reluctant expert in hard conversations. On her wildly popular podcast, she talks about painful experiences we inevitably face, and exposes the absurdity of the question “how are you?” that people often ask when we’re coping with the aftermath of emotional catastrophe. She knows intimately that when your life falls apart, there’s a mad rush to be okay—to find a silver lining, to get to the happy ending. In this, her second memoir, Nora offers a tragicomic exploration of the tension between finding happiness and holding space for the unhappy experiences that have shaped us.No Happy Endings is a book for people living life after life has fallen apart. It’s a book for people who know that they’re moving forward, not moving on. It’s a book for people who know life isn’t always happy, but it isn’t the end: there will be unimaginable joy and incomprehensible tragedy. As Nora reminds us, there will be no happy endings—but there will be new beginnings.“An alternately funny and wrenching (but mostly funny?) as well as brutally frank story of life after death.” —Vogue
The Resilience Myth: New Thinking on Grit, Strength, and Growth After Trauma
By Soraya Chemaly. 2024
The author of the &“must-read&” (NPR) Rage Becomes Her presents a powerful manifesto for communal resilience based on in-depth investigations…
into history, social science, and psychology.We are often urged to rely only on ourselves for strength, mental fortitude, and positivity. But with her distinctive &“skill, wit, and sharp insight&” (Laura Bates, author of Girl Up), Soraya Chemaly challenges us to adapt our thinking about how we survive in a world of sustained, overlapping crises. It is interdependence and nurturing relationships that truly sustain us, she argues. Based on comprehensive research and eye-opening examples from real-life, The Resilience Myth offers alternative visions of relational hardiness by emphasizing care for others and our environments above all.
When the bad times are over for good: transforming trouble into triumph
By Gerald Mann. 1992
The author relates his own struggles and explains how he came to understand a crucial principle: If we're going to…
live with a purpose in this world, we must find a way to use our pain rather than to deny or avoid it. This book contains ideas, exercises and techniques for dealing with suffering
Death in the Modern World
By Tony Walter. 2020
Death comes to all humans, but how death is managed, symbolised and experienced varies widely, not only between individuals but…
also between groups. What then shapes how a society manages death, dying and bereavement today? Are all modern countries similar? How important are culture, the physical environment, national histories, national laws and institutions, and globalization? This is the first book to look at how all these different factors shape death and dying in the modern world. Written by an internationally renowned scholar in death studies, and drawing on examples from around the world, including the UK, USA, China and Japan, The Netherlands, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. This book investigates how key factors such as money, communication technologies, economic in/security, risk, the family, religion, and war, interact in complex ways to shape people’s experiences of dying and grief. Essential reading for students, researchers and professionals across sociology, anthropology, social work and healthcare, and for anyone who wants to understand how countries around the world manage death and dying.
Death in the Modern World
By Tony Walter. 2020
Death comes to all humans, but how death is managed, symbolised and experienced varies widely, not only between individuals but…
also between groups. What then shapes how a society manages death, dying and bereavement today? Are all modern countries similar? How important are culture, the physical environment, national histories, national laws and institutions, and globalization? This is the first book to look at how all these different factors shape death and dying in the modern world. Written by an internationally renowned scholar in death studies, and drawing on examples from around the world, including the UK, USA, China and Japan, The Netherlands, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. This book investigates how key factors such as money, communication technologies, economic in/security, risk, the family, religion, and war, interact in complex ways to shape people’s experiences of dying and grief. Essential reading for students, researchers and professionals across sociology, anthropology, social work and healthcare, and for anyone who wants to understand how countries around the world manage death and dying.
Virtual Reality Interventions for Patients under Palliative Care is a groundbreaking guide that empowers healthcare professionals to transform end-of-life care…
with the innovative use of virtual reality (VR).This book equips clinicians with the knowledge and skills they need to seamlessly integrate state-of-the-art VR technology into palliative care, addressing a wide range of patient needs, from pain management to wish fulfillment. The book’s special features include evidence-based VR interventions, practical implementation strategies, assessment tools, case studies, clinical tips, and suggested scripts for engagement, preparation, and assessment.Grounded in robust research, theory, and practical expertise, this guidebook is a must-read for any researcher or professional who wants to enhance the quality of life for terminally ill patients and their families through VR technology, which offers a novel and transformative approach that sets it apart from traditional palliative care practices.
Mental As Anyone: A Toolkit for Surviving and Thriving on the Chaotic Rollercoaster of Life
By Jonathon Moran, Dr Jodie Lowinger. 2025
Lessons in mental health and life from acclaimed entertainment journalist Jonathon Moran Mental health issues can affect everyone, so it's…
crucial that you have strategies to help you combat life's ups and downs as they happen. Mental as Anyone is a brutally honest self-help book for anyone dealing with the challenges of mental health. Shared through his own personal story, journalist and host of the Mental as Anyone podcast Jonathon ‘JMo’ Moran, with the help of expert clinical psychologist Dr Jodie Lowinger, offers real-life coping strategies to break down the barrier to mental health literacy. Developed through experiencing his own trauma, Moran shares through personal stories how he built his life tool kit and, backed with strategies from Dr Lowinger, shows how you can build your own, with practical coping methods that you can implement immediately to improve your mental health. With these comprehensive mental wellness tools and techniques, you'll have the support you need for issues related to sexuality, depression, addictive substances and behaviours, self-esteem, loss and abuse. Inside the book: Actionable advice for your “life tool kit” to help you face life's inevitable challenges Extraordinary stories from Moran's personal and professional life — from meeting Madonna to spending an evening in Carrie Fisher's hotel room Universally applicable self-help strategies learned from personal experiences and professional practice, and grounded in psychology Perfect for anyone interested in becoming the best version of themselves, Mental As Anyone is a timely and personal reminder that life can be a struggle, but we all have it within ourselves to overcome the obstacles life throws at us.