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Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty-a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre-took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her lifes work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age...

Here is the book of a lifetime: a clebration of our everyday lives. Births, weddings, reunions, funerals.

Shows us how to fight entropy at home and in our communities with a guide that will help all families to keep open channels of communication, sustain regular involvement with others, and manage conflict. Real-life case studies combined personal experience of family life are used throughout the book to illustrate ways to approach daily routines as well as special events like holidays.

In this deliciously entertaining slice of Southern life (and death), inveterate hostess Gayden Metcalfe explains everything you need to know to host an authentic Southern funeral, such as: Can you be properly buried without tomato aspic? Who prepares tastier funeral fare, the Episcopal ladies or the Methodist ladies? And what does one do when a family gets three sheets to the wind and eats the entire feast the night before a funeral? Each chapter...

Lake-Thom, who has studied with the elders of many tribes, explains the significance of animal figures as manifestations of good or evil, and shows how we can develop our own powers of awareness and intuition. The first book of its kind, this practical and enlightening resource includes dozens of fascinating animal myths and legends, as well as exercises and activities that draw upon animal powers for guidance, healing, wisdom, and the expansion of...

Five hundred years after Columbus, the old inhabitants of the New World are creating a Native American Renaissance. At the heart of this resurgence are tribal dancers who sustain the community's spiritual and artistic traditions. Every year at hundreds of powwows across the country, master dancers compete in exhibitions of skill and pageantry - largely out of sight of the general public.