In The Art of the Obit, award-winning journalist Sandra Martin reveals the cult and craft of obituary writing from the ancient Greeks to a wired-up 24/7 world.

In this witty exploration of our oldest biographical form, Martin punctures five long-held myths about the dead beat, chronicles the social, political, cultural, and historical impact of obituaries and explores the future of writing about the dead on the Internet and social media sites. This fascinating and provocative work proves that there’s no such thing as an uninteresting life.