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Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. By Robert Kastenbaum. New York: Thomson Gale, 2002. 2 vols, alkaline $240 (ISBN 0-02-865689-X).
The stark title of this set masks the breadth of fascinating entries found within the sturdy somber covers. It is obviously the much expanded and mature child of the 1989 Encyclopedia of Death (Oryx) by Beatrice and Robert Kastenbaum. One finds the expected: some diseases, definitions, euthansia, a wide range of religious practices (from Australian aboriginal to Zoroastrianism), grief, mourning, suicide; but also the unusual and unexpected: British royalty, rock music and suicide, omens, Waco, and more. This is a work that needs to have catalog contents notes of its 327 main entries to deliver its value to library users who would not think to look here for information on cannibalism, cell death, Elvis sightings, nuclear destruction, Theodosian Code, or zombies. Another recent publication, the Encyclopedia of Death and Dying edited by Howarth and Leamon (Routledge,...