Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
- ISBN-10
- 0393245950
- ISBN-13
- 9780393245950
- Series
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
- Category
- Biography & Autobiography
- Pages
- 272
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2014-09-15
- Publisher
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Author
- Caitlin Doughty
Description
"Morbid and illuminating" (Entertainment Weekly)—a young mortician goes behind the scenes of her curious profession. Armed with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre, Caitlin Doughty took a job at a crematory and turned morbid curiosity into her life’s work. She cared for bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, and became an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. In this best-selling memoir, brimming with gallows humor and vivid characters, she marvels at the gruesome history of undertaking and relates her unique coming-of-age story with bold curiosity and mordant wit. By turns hilarious, dark, and uplifting, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes reveals how the fear of dying warps our society and "will make you reconsider how our culture treats the dead" (San Francisco Chronicle).
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015-10-27
- - pages
- Paperback
- National Geographic Books
-
- 2015-04-16
- 272 pages
- Paperback
- Canongate Books
Similar books
-
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
By Caitlin Doughtyhorrible misfortune that occurred there, art historian Victor Zamudio Taylor claims it was here that “Kahlo, for the first time, consciously decides that she will paint about herself, and that she will paint the most private and painful ...
-
Down Among the Dead Men: A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Technician
By Michelle WilliamsFrom the tragic to the hilarious they include: The fitness fanatic who was run over as he did pressups in the road on a dark night The decapitated motorcyclist The guide dog who led his owner on to the railway tracks - and left him there ...
-
Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses
By Bess LovejoyFrom Mozart to Hitler, Rest in Pieces connects the lives of the famous dead to the hilarious and horrifying adventures of their corpses, and traces the evolution of cultural attitudes toward death"--Back cover.
-
Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt
By Todd Harra, Kenneth McKenzieHis birth had been recorded under the old British-used Julian calendar before the Gregorian calendar became widely used in 1752, and thus, we Americans used the Julian calendar until the British stopped.
-
The American Way of Death Revisited
By Jessica Mitford“Well, the first thing we do is to fire Murphy, and this usually satisfies the aggrieved party,” he explained. Murphy, of course, doesn't exist except for the purpose of getting fired to placate an irate reader.
-
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies
By Caitlin DoughtyCan we give Grandma a Viking funeral? Why don't animals dig up all the graves? Will my hair keep growing in my coffin after I'm buried? Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death.
-
Death's Summer Coat: What the History of Death and Dying Teaches Us About Life and Living
By Brandy SchillaceIt also brings us closer together—conversation and community are just as important for living as for dying. Some of the stories are strikingly unfamiliar; others are far more familiar than you might suppose.
-
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death
By Caitlin DoughtyAuthor and licensed mortician Caitlin Doughty answers real questions from kids about death, dead bodies, and decomposition. Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death.
-
My Grandfather's Gallery: A Family Memoir of Art and War
By Anne SinclairDrawing on her grandfather's intimate correspondence with Picasso, Matisse, Braque and others, the author takes readers on a personal journey through the life of Paul Rosenberg, a legendary Parisian art dealer who was forced to flee Vichy ...
-
Undertaker Tales: What They Don't Teach You at Mortuary School
By Norgus PressThe stories these brave men and women could tell! We have gathered but a few for you today in these pages. UNDERTAKER TALES IS A FICTIONAL ANTHOLOGY OF HORROR STORIES.