Death Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous, and the Notorious - Softcover

Strauss, Alix

Softcover

ISBN 10: 006172856X ISBN 13: 9780061728563

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2009

Synopsis

"Death Becomes Them" is an eye-opening and entertaining look into the lonely, personal nightmares behind celebrity suicides. Strauss' subjects range from Virginia Woolf to Kurt Cobain, from Elliott Smith to Adolf Hitler and from Mark Rothko to Anne Sexton. Tragic and often bizarre, Strauss unearths today's most talked about and monumental suicides that have impacted us while paying tribute to these lost souls. Each death is as diverse as the person that killed himself. Some are tragic - Dorothy Dandridge was found naked on her bathroom floor, a handful of anti-depressants swimming in her system. Others are bizarre - Hunter S. Thompson shot himself while on the phone with his wife. This is an intimate, intense companion to the unobtainable - a fond remembrance, a final goodbye.

About this title

Product Description:

Author Alix Strauss takes a provocative look at the self-imposed deaths of the famous and infamous in Death Becomes Them. In this fascinating and intimate chronicle of celebrity suicides, the spotlight shines on the lonely last moments of Kurt Cobain and Ernest Hemingway, Abbie Hoffman and Adolf Hitler, Dorothy Dandridge, Sigmund Freud, Hunter S. Thompson, and others. Death Becomes Them explores their sadness and madness, their accomplishments and the circumstances that led to their irreversible decision, and wishes them all a fond final good-bye.

Review:

“A truly unique, compelling and strangely life-affirming work of literary investigation. The perfect book to get you through the night. ” (Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight)

“Dark, grisly, and completely fascinating. I almost felt guilty for so thoroughly enjoying this look at history’s most tormented souls.” (A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year Of Living Biblically)

“Strauss brilliantly exposes the devilry in the details and makes the profoundly moving, self-inflicted end-days of the greats a fascinating read.” (Michael Largo, author of Genuis and Heroin)

“A truly unique, compelling and strangely life-affirming work of literary investigation. The perfect book to get you through the night. ” (Rona Jaffe, author of The Room-Mating Season, among others)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 006172856X
• ISBN 13: 9780061728563
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352