A Wonderful Life - Hardcover

Copeland, Cyrus M.

3.7

20 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565125118 ISBN 13: 9781565125117

Publisher: Algonquin Books (division of Workman), 2006

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Here are fifty eulogies, fond remembrances of the twentieth century's best and brightest: World Pioneers: Martin Luther King Jr. honoured by Robert Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi by Jawaharlal Nehru; Movie Stars: Joan Crawford remembered by director George Cukor, Orson Welles by Charlton Heston; Media Titans: Katharine Graham celebrated by Ben Bradlee, Edward R.Murrow by Charles Kuralt; Entertainers: John Belushi by Dan Aykroyd, Bob Hope by Larry Gelbart; Composers and Singers: Jerry Garcia by Robert Hunter, Leonard Bernstein by Ned Rorem; and Athletes: Mickey Mantle by Bob Costas, Arthur Ashe by Douglas Wilder. In these moving and personal tributes, we see the true personalities of these fifty remarkable people, shadings of character usually hidden from the spotlight.

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Review:

" How do you make good, in words, on the life of another human being? The real challenge of the task is evident on every page....A fascinating collection of memorial remarks about 64 well-known figures." -- "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" " You might not think of eulogies as the same thing as love stories, but here....they most certainly are. This is an extraordinary collection of 64 goodbyes to the famous from the (mostly) famous." -- "The Boston Globe"

From the Inside Flap:

The farewells gathered in this collection celebrate the lives of some of the most famous figures of the twentieth century, writen in most instances by their equally famous peers. Informed by wit, humor, and affection, these minibiographies include rare insight and provide a real understanding of what made these people so exceptional.
Cyrus Copeland, in his second compilation of eulogies, has collected fifty inspiring tributes that honor icons from the realms of entertainment and the arts, government and politics, science and the media.
Here we have famed film director George Cukor revealing Joan Crawford's greatest love affair—with the camera; sex research guru Alfred Kinsey memorialized by his longtime secretary; Bill Clinton on how Rosa Parks changed our world; Charles Kurault on the awe he felt in working with Edward R. Murrow; chef Jacques P�pin calling Julia Child an "antisnob"; Dan Aykroyd celebrating his friendship with John Belushi; the uniqueness of Leonard Bernstein as described by friend and fellow composer Ned Rorem; a poem written by Robert Hunter to honor Jerry Garcia; Bob Costas's homage to his greatest hero, Mickey Mantle. In addition, there are eulogies for several 9/11 heroes, and tributes to parents by three distinguished writers.
As Copeland notes in his introduction, a good eulogy can be "a bridge between the living and the dead, between us and them, memory and eternity....A great eulogy assures us that our loved ones will endure in our collective memories." And so, in these pages, fifty memorable people come alive again and, thanks to these eulogies, will continue to live in our memory.

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