Where The Bodies Are: Final Visits To The Rich, Famous, & Interesting

You don't have to be a ghoul to enjoy graveyards. Visiting the final resting places of famous personalities and historical figures is as much a celebration of lives fascinatingly led as it is an illuminating look into the past. From the famous to the infamous, they're all here. You can pay your final respects to such diverse personalities as baseball greats Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth, music stars Leonard Bernstein and Ella Fitzgerald, and artists Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock.Join author Patricia Brooks as she unearths nearly a thousand intriguing characters whose legacies live on beyond the grave. You'll find detailed obituaries and sepulchral photographs, as well as information on: cemetery locations and visiting hours; availability of maps, tours, walks, and special events; original homesteads or museums located nearby.Come discover cemeteries famous for their beautiful grounds and grand monuments. You can take time to admire the ornate gates and Victorian-era statuary or contemplate the simple headstones and markers that belie the bigger-than-life personalities buried below. Just don't forget to read the epitaphs, such as "Here lies Ann Mann; she lived an old maid but died an old Mann," or the classic "I told you I was sick."This wonderful book, full of history and amusing anecdotes, is a spirited guide to cemeteries across the United States, with hundreds of evocative profiles giving tribute to those lying below. (6 x 9, 272 pages, b&w photos)


It may sound ghoulish to admit to a weakness for cemeteries, but a cemetery visit can often enliven a travel experience. Death may not take a holiday, but visitors to cemeteries can After all, several of the most-visited tourist sights are tombs: the Taj Mahal in India, Napoleon's tomb in Paris, and the Pyramids in Egypt. And how about all the fans at Elvis Presley's grave at Graceland in Memphis, or John F. Kennedy's Eternal Flame in Arlington National Cemetery?
Certain cemeteries are popular not just for their permanent residents, but for the beauty of the grounds and grandeur of the monuments, with mausoleums created by Louis Sullivan or heroic statuary by Daniel Chester French. A cemetery stroll can bring the past--though not the dead--to life. History buffs like to see where Old What's-His-Name lives, and are often surprised at where he ended up.
In addition to a brief description of each cemetery, with pertinent practical information for visitors, succinct biographies of selected residents help "Where the Bodies Are" serve as a many-peopled tribute to those who have gone before.