The Book Of Eulogies

Theroux has included some of the world's most well-known tributes, such as Pericles' Funeral Oration, Jules Michelet's appreciation of Jeanne d'Arc, Victor Hugo's ringing words on the one hundredth anniversary of Voltaire's death, Cardinal Suenens's eulogy for Pope John XXIII. But most of the eulogized assembled here are eighteenth- to twentieth-century Americans, and the stories of their lives illuminate our history with a particularly intimate light. In Robert Kennedy's extemporaneous remarks upon hearing of the death of Martin Luther King, or Eugene McCarthy's tribute to his friend and colleague, Hubert Humphrey, the values, wisdom, and spirit of both the eulogized and the eulogizer are revealed.

The Book of Eulogies is a sourcebook for anyone who must find words of solace, understanding, and inspiration on the occasion of a beloved's death. It is also a treasury of astonishing eloquence, passion, and humanity -- a record of extraordinary lives, seen through the eyes of those who knew and loved them.

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."

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

A sensible anthology, 2000-11-09
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.


21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent perspective on the meaning of our life on earth, 1998-02-20
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.

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