For centuries, people who died destitute or alone were buried in potters’ fields—a Dickensian end that even the most hard-pressed families tried to avoid. Today, however, more and more relatives are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to dispose of the bodies. Up to 150,000 Americans now go unclaimed each year. Who are they? Why are they being forgotten? And what is the meaning of life if your death doesn’t matter to others?
In THE UNCLAIMED: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels (Crown Hardcover; On Sale 3/12/2024), Prickett and Timmermans follow four individuals in Los Angeles, tracing the twisting, poignant paths that put each at risk of going unclaimed, and introducing us to the scene investigators, notification officers, and crematorium workers who care for them when no one else will. This book lays bare the difficult truth that anyone—even the wealthy and famous—can be abandoned when they die. It forces us to confront a variety of social ills, from the fracturing of families and the loneliness of cities to the toll of rising inequality. But it is also filled with unexpected moments of tenderness: In Boyle Heights, a Mexican American neighborhood not far from the glitter of Hollywood, hundreds of strangers come together each year to mourn thedeaths of people they never knew. As unclaimed numbers statistically increase year by year, these ceremonies are springing up across the country.
Eight years in the making, with hundreds of interviews and meticulous research, THE UNCLAIMED calls on all of us to expand our circle of caring—in death and in life.
Get the Book: https://www.theunclaimedbook.com/
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Don’t Be A Hack - Ep. 147
The Story of the Show - Ep. 146
The Worst & Best Funeral Director - Ep. 145
Closet Space - Ep. 144
Knives, A Toaster, and a Gun - Ep. 143
Todd Harra’s “Last Rites” - Ep. 142
The Eulogy of Mike Everly - Ep. 141
Culture & Retirement - Ep. 140
Uvalde As the World Spins - Ep. 139
The Other Side of the Table - Ep. 138
Brutal Honesty - Ep. 137
Enjoy the Mundane - Ep. 136
Why the Tulip - Ep. 135
Constructively Criticize - Ep. 134
The Small Town Punching Bag - Ep. 133
The Confessional - Ep. 132
The Forgotten One - Ep. 131
The Gravedigging Gentleman - Ep. 130
The Call Before the Call - Ep. 129
TikTok With My Alma Mater - Ep. 128
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