Temple University Press How We Die Now: Intimacy and the Work of Dying

As we live longer and die slower and differently than our ancestors, we have come to rely more and more on end-of-life caregivers. These workers navigate a changing landscape of old age and death that many of us have little preparation to encounter. How We Die Now is an absorbing and sensitive investigation of end-of-life issues from the perspectives of patients, relatives, medical professionals, and support staff. Karla Erickson immersed herself in the daily life of workers and elders in a Midwestern community for over two years to explore important questions around the theme of \u201chow we die now.\u201d She moves readers through and beyond the many fears that attend the social condition of old age and reveals the pleasures of living longer and the costs of slower, sometimes senseless ways of dying. For all of us who are grappling with the \u201celder boom,\u201d How We Die Now offers new ways of thinking about our longer lives. Review "Erickson has chosen a timely topic. As technological brinkmanship enables people to stay alive for many more years than previously, the quality of life during these extra years is being called into question... Erickson's call for better treatment of the elderly during these waning years and the need to make more informed decisions about extending life is an important one... VERDICT: A well-meaning contribution to an extremely important subject." --Library Journal "As part of her research for How We Die Now: Intimacy and the Work of Dying (Temple University Press, 2013), Erickson, an ethnographer of labor, trained as a nurse's aide in order to develop a deep understanding of the daily lives of workers and elders in a Midwestern retirement community. Erickson's research investigates why workers are attracted to their occupations, what they learn from their work, and what sustains and challenges them. For her book, she spent more than two years observing and interviewing chaplains, nurses, residents and family caregivers in the retirement community." - Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine "How We Die Now attempts to make observations regarding the work of death for Americans in the 21st century. Clearly, death experiences are as unique as lives... Erickson bases the greater part of the text upon a multilevel extended care facility and its residents and staff... The brief glimpses into these data were the bright spots of the work. The author touches on why aging Americans may want to avoid extended care facilities, racial disparities, and fears that surround nursing care facilities for the aged. The sort of multileveled facility that is the center of the study is often seen as desirable and preferable to traditional nursing home facilities...Summing Up: Recommended." - Choice About the Author Karla A. Erickson is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Grinnell College. She is the author of The Hungry Cowboy: Service and Community in a Neighborhood Restaurant and co-editor (with Jennifer Pierce and Hokulani Aikau) of Feminist Waves, Feminist Generations, Life Stories from the Academy, 1964-2000.