Product Description

Mark Steyn, wrote The Washington Post's Peter Carlson, "may be the world's wittiest obit writer." So here, by special request, is a collection of favorites from Mark's morgue, obituaries and appreciations of towering figures and scurvy lowlifes and all points in between. Inside you'll find Steyn's take on Ronald Reagan, Idi Amin, the Princess of Wales, Bob Hope, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Artie Shaw and Pope John Paul II - plus Zimbabwe's Reverend Canaan Banana, Scotty from Star Trek, Nixon's secretary and Gershwin's girlfriend. It's the passing parade of our times, from presidents and prime ministers to the guy who invented Cool Whip.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265346 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 326 pages

About the Author
The New York Times bestselling author of America Alone: The End Of The World As We Know It, Mark Steyn can be read around the world on war, politics, arts and culture. In the US, he is resident obituarist of The Atlantic Monthly, National Review's "Happy Warrior", and a syndicated columnist who appears in The Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Sun, The Washington Times and many other papers. He also appears across the planet, from Canada's Western Standard to The Jerusalem Post to Hawke's Bay Today in New Zealand.

Customer Reviews

A TRULY REWARDING READ
Mark Steyn's political and current affairs work is often brilliant, usually witty and sometimes off beam - but always worth reading. This book a collection of short obituaries of famous people and is pure gold Steyn. It shows an affection for people, and gives insights and background that even if it weren't so well written would still be a gem. As it is, I think it is hugely enjoyable and I recommend it if you like great prose and sharp wit, combined with an understanding of popular culture, social comment and the world of famous people. Just enjoy it.

Brilliant examples of a lost art
Mark Steyn's compendium of obituaries is great reading. Far from the dry birth-curriculum vitae-death pattern of most obituaries, Steyn's articles note the subject's importance in relation to larger social or political events. The writing is pure Steyn: clever, inventive, interesting and wry. Among the riotously funny remembrances are his column on the Rev. Canaan Banana. Among the pointed and poignant are his farewells to Pres. Reagan and Pope John Paul II. But Steyn spans the globe and the spectrum -- his farewells include royalty, artists, musicians, traitors, politicians and filmmakers.

This a fine anthology -- one that is worth reading and re-reading.

Mark Steyn is a true cosmopolite
Mark Steyn is one if not the only writer today who combines insight with solid knowledge. His essays on the passing of the famous people of our age is a jewel of literature and history. He demonstrates a complete knowledge of the people and their times. His essays on the late Queen Mother and English cabinet minister John Profumo capture the basic decent characters of these two English figures of public life. His ecletic sweep includes some of the very best Pope John Paul II to the very worst Idi Amin. As always Steyn is a pleasure to read and his erudition shines forth.