Find-a-Grave is a great Web site! It has greatly helped us at Ready Reference as you wouldn't believe how many people are interested in where famous people are buried. Another source along the same lines is a hardcover reference called How They Died. Crazy, unbelievable stories through the ages. I love Sarah Vowell both in print and on the radio. She is truly an original voice and funny!
I'm putting this title on hold for you to pick up at Wauwatosa. A nice complement to Assassination Vacation:
Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy by Tod Benoit
Book Description This enlightening and browsable guide features more than 500 profiles of the lives, deaths, and final resting places of our most influential figures from sports, music, film, television, literature, and politics.
This unparalleled compilation of profiles of the deceased--from Abbott & Costello to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, from Arthur Ashe to Andy Warhol--offers all of the pertinent details on their lives, deaths, and grave sites, providing a pop-cultural road map for anyone fascinated by celebrity, history, and travel. Listings include Mark Twain, Sonny Bono, Dr. Seuss, Salvador Dali, Mickey Mantle, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Ingrid Bergman, William Shakespeare, Andy Kaufman, Bob Crane, Louis Armstrong, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Al Capone, Ella Fitzgerald, Mae West, Gertude Stein, and hundreds more.
Fifty photos and a number of informative sidebars (on such topics as how to find the grave of anyone you choose) round out this entertaining look at the permanent addresses of our most significant late citizens. And each listing offers concise directions to both the cemetery and the grave itself, an added benefit for tombstone travelers.
About the Author Tod Benoit is an entrepreneur who has logged more than 10,000 miles driving around the country in search of notable graves.
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (May 6, 2003) Language: English ISBN: 1579122876
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Good Read, August 29, 2003 Reviewer: Alan Beggerow (Rock Falls, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This book not only contains the whereabouts of many 'famous' people's graves, but it has thumbnail boigraphies of the people in question. For a casual reader, it can be picked up and a few sections can be read easily at one sitting. For the hard-core reader, it can be like 'bubblegum for the brain' and be an entertaining read.
Couldn't give it any higher than four stars. Like a reviewer states below, there is some misinformation in the book. Minor to be sure, but it is still an entertaining read.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Whatta Deal/A BIG BANG FOR AN INEXPENSIVE BOOK, April 23, 2003 Reviewer: gail powers "Gail" (Homewood, IL United States) - See all my reviews This book attempts to go where many others have gone before and manages to do a very good job... for a good quality hardcover book. It contains the locations of approximately 500 celebrity graves and is just a lot of fun. The book is arranged by type of celebrity (sports figures, singers, authors, etc.). For each personality the author Tod Benoit provides a date of birth and death, a lengthy biography which summarizes pertinent facts concerning his subject's life, the manner in which his subject died, the burial location and/or the method of disposal, instructions as to how to find the cemetery using main highways and local streets, and explicit instructions for finding gravesites. Aside from being just packed with good info, Tod Benoit has a wonderfully wry sense of humor which is good because it takes a lot of the sting out of a grim subject like death. I particularly enjoyed his take on finding grave locations at Forest Lawn in Glendale CA and his not-too-subtle suggestions for averting cemetery security. This man is hysterical! Another very enjoyable section could have been subtitled "Tod's Practical And Sometimes Whacky Methods Used To Get Information". Odd as my subtitle sounds, the author's suggestions are quite inventive and I applaud him for his overall creativity. In truth, I can really see them being quite effective. This is probably because I've tried some, and will try the ones I haven't. At the date of publication, all the information provided regarding grave locations was correct with the exception of Lucille Ball who was recently moved to a cemetery in Jamestown NY. There were a few biographical errors which I caught, but nothing that would interfer with the general pleasure I derived from this book. Now please buy this book, so he'll write another one. It is that good.
4 comments:
Something smells funny and looks smelly.
Find-a-Grave is a great Web site! It has greatly helped us at Ready Reference as you wouldn't believe how many people are interested in where famous people are buried. Another source along the same lines is a hardcover reference called How They Died. Crazy, unbelievable stories through the ages.
I love Sarah Vowell both in print and on the radio. She is truly an original voice and funny!
I've read Shep Nuland's, How We Die. It was excellent. My guess is that the prior post was from my friend Judy.
I'm putting this title on hold for you to pick up at Wauwatosa. A nice complement to Assassination Vacation:
Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy
by Tod Benoit
Book Description
This enlightening and browsable guide features more than 500 profiles of the lives, deaths, and final resting places of our most influential figures from sports, music, film, television, literature, and politics.
This unparalleled compilation of profiles of the deceased--from Abbott & Costello to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, from Arthur Ashe to Andy Warhol--offers all of the pertinent details on their lives, deaths, and grave sites, providing a pop-cultural road map for anyone fascinated by celebrity, history, and travel. Listings include Mark Twain, Sonny Bono, Dr. Seuss, Salvador Dali, Mickey Mantle, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Ingrid Bergman, William Shakespeare, Andy Kaufman, Bob Crane, Louis Armstrong, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Al Capone, Ella Fitzgerald, Mae West, Gertude Stein, and hundreds more.
Fifty photos and a number of informative sidebars (on such topics as how to find the grave of anyone you choose) round out this entertaining look at the permanent addresses of our most significant late citizens. And each listing offers concise directions to both the cemetery and the grave itself, an added benefit for tombstone travelers.
About the Author
Tod Benoit is an entrepreneur who has logged more than 10,000 miles driving around the country in search of notable graves.
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (May 6, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN: 1579122876
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Good Read, August 29, 2003
Reviewer: Alan Beggerow (Rock Falls, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This book not only contains the whereabouts of many 'famous' people's graves, but it has thumbnail boigraphies of the people in question.
For a casual reader, it can be picked up and a few sections can be read easily at one sitting. For the hard-core reader, it can be like 'bubblegum for the brain' and be an entertaining read.
Couldn't give it any higher than four stars. Like a reviewer states below, there is some misinformation in the book. Minor to be sure, but it is still an entertaining read.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Whatta Deal/A BIG BANG FOR AN INEXPENSIVE BOOK, April 23, 2003
Reviewer: gail powers "Gail" (Homewood, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This book attempts to go where many others have gone before and manages to do a very good job... for a good quality hardcover book. It contains the locations of approximately 500 celebrity graves and is just a lot of fun.
The book is arranged by type of celebrity (sports figures, singers, authors, etc.). For each personality the author Tod Benoit provides a date of birth and death, a lengthy biography which summarizes pertinent facts concerning his subject's life, the manner in which his subject died, the burial location and/or the method of disposal, instructions as to how to find the cemetery using main highways and local streets, and explicit instructions for finding gravesites.
Aside from being just packed with good info, Tod Benoit has a wonderfully wry sense of humor which is good because it takes a lot of the sting out of a grim subject like death. I particularly enjoyed his take on finding grave locations at Forest Lawn in Glendale CA and his not-too-subtle suggestions for averting cemetery security. This man is hysterical!
Another very enjoyable section could have been subtitled "Tod's Practical And Sometimes Whacky Methods Used To Get Information". Odd as my subtitle sounds, the author's suggestions are quite inventive and I applaud him for his overall creativity. In truth, I can really see them being quite effective. This is probably because I've tried some, and will try the ones I haven't.
At the date of publication, all the information provided regarding grave locations was correct with the exception of Lucille Ball who was recently moved to a cemetery in Jamestown NY. There were a few biographical errors which I caught, but nothing that would interfer with the general pleasure I derived from this book.
Now please buy this book, so he'll write another one. It is that good.
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