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Mobituaries : great lives worth reliving  Cover Image Book Book

Mobituaries : great lives worth reliving / Mo Rocca and Jonathan Greenberg ; illustrations by Mitch Butler.

Rocca, Mo, (author.). Greenberg, Jonathan, (author.). Butler, Mitch, (illustrator.).

Summary:

"Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries--reading about the remarkable lives of world leaders, captains of industry, innovators and artists. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. With Mobituaries--the book companion to the CBS podcast of the same name--the journalist, humorist, and history buff is righting that wrong, profiling the people who have long fascinated him--from the 20th century's greatest entertainer, to sitcom characters gone all too soon, to a shamefully forgotten Founding Father. Even if you know the names, you've never understood why they matter--until now. In these pages, Rocca chronicles the stories of the people who made a difference, but whose lives, for some reason or another, were never truly examined. There's Thomas Paine, whose Common Sense lit the fuse for the American Revolution--and whose paltry obit summed up his life thusly: "He had lived long, did some good, and much harm." And then there's screen icon Audrey Hepburn. She remains a household name, but how much do we know about her wartime upbringing and how it shaped the woman we fell in love with? And what about Billy Carter and history's unruly presidential brothers? Were they ne'er-do-well liabilities, or secret weapons? As a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and the host of The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation, Rocca is an expert researcher and storyteller. He draws on these skills here. With his rigorous reporting and trademark wit, Rocca brings these men and women splendidly back to life like no one else can. Mobituaries is an insightful and unconventional account of the people who made life worth living for the rest of us, one that asks us to think about who gets remembered, and why."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781501197628 (hardcover)
  • ISBN: 1501197622 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 375 pages : color illustrations; 24 cm
  • Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2019.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 340-375).
Formatted Contents Note:
Introduction -- Death of the fantastic: Dragons (3000 BC-1735) and other mythical creatures we used to think were real -- Death of a founding father: Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and other famously disembodied body parts -- Forgotten forerunner: Elizabeth Jennings (1827-1901), "The Rosa Parks of New York" -- Death of an influencer: Beau Brummell (1778-1840) and other dead fashion trends -- Death of an American story: Chang and Eng Bunker (1811-1874) and other sideshow sensations -- Death of representation: The black congressmen of Reconstruction (1870-1901) and other political firsts who didn't make your high school history book -- Forgotten forerunner: Lois Weber (1879-1939), "When a woman ruled Hollywood" -- Death of medieval science (800-1928), other less science that was less than scientific -- Death of a sports team: Los Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo (1937-1937) and other teams you can't root for anymore -- Forgotten forerunner: Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), "The Byronic Woman" -- Death of a country: Prussia (1525-1947) and other places you won't find on a map; heroes of the New Jersey Turnpike.
Death of a funny girl: Fanny Brice (1891-1951) and other historical figures eclipsed by the actors who played them -- Before and after: Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) and the post presidency: John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). The Mount Rushmore of terrible presidents and the graveyard of failed presidential candidates -- Forgotten forerunner: Moses Fleetwood Walker (1857-1924), "Before Jackie" -- Death of a diagnosis: Homosexuality as a mental illness (1952-1973) and other defunct diagnoses -- Reputation assassination. A story of three killings:
Forgotten forerunner: Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), "the Aviatrix" -- Death of a Career: Vaughn Meader (1936-2004); The Story of Melba Moore's ill-fated sitcom (1986-1986); Where's Chuck? The Graveyard of disappeared and dead sitcom characters -- Died the same day: Farrah Fawcett (1947-2009) and Michael Jackson (1958-2009) and other famous people who died the same day -- Death of a leviathan: The station wagon (1949-2011) and other things from the '70s that could've killed us -- Forgotten forerunner: Hadrian's Wall (128-17460, "The first Great Wall" -- Celebrities who put their butts on the line: Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011), Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), and Lord Byron (1788-1824) and other people famous for more than one thing -- Death of a tree: The live oaks of Toomer's Corner (1937-2013) and other trees felled too soon -- Dedication: Marcel "Jack" Rocca (1929-2004).
Subject: Obituaries.
Biography.

Available copies

  • 4 of 5 copies available at Lehigh Valley Library System.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 5 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Allentown Public Library 920.02 ROCC (Text) 34455006638056 Adult Nonfiction 1st FL Available -
Bethlehem Fountain Hill Satellite 920.02 (Text) 33062009435471 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Bethlehem Main Library 920.02 (Text) 33062009224834 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Bethlehem South Side Branch 920.02 (Text) 33062009254534 Adult Nonfiction Checked Out 05/02/2024
Easton Main Library 920 R671m (Text) 31901004389559 Adult Nonfiction Available -


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