An odd sought of a world. Ordinary people deserve more column inches when they die where as VIPs often appear increasingly undeserving as one digs deeper.

Some obituaries are chiefly statements and occasions to protect current politicians, policies and commercial interests (like our quagmire in Afghanistan) with remembrance of the dead a secondary consideration.

Pete

I'm reminded a bit of Orson Scott Card's classic Sci-fi novel "Speaker for the Dead" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead

"Speakers research the dead person's life and give a speech that attempts to speak for them, describing the person's life as he or she tried to live it. This speech is not given in order to persuade the audience to condemn or forgive the deceased, but rather a way to understand the person as a whole, including any flaws or misdeeds."

Whilst fictional there is something compelling about the concept as put by Scott Card.

R0bert

Gee, I wonder if this author will get a commission for every one of these 'Obit' books he sells to OLO readers?
He certainly made the book sound attractive to read.

In my humble opinion, I believe obituaries are essential for all people known, even vaguely, to the deceased, and to all those people who will use them in the future as an excellent family history extract to be used by Genealogists.

I enjoy collecting information on family histories, and would welcome the information of any obituaries I could find about them.