Last Words of Notable People: Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History - Brossura

Brahms, Mr. William B.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0976532581 ISBN 13: 9780976532583

Casa editrice: Reference Desk Press, Inc., 2012

Riassunto

Last Words of Notable People is a comprehensive reference work on "last words," "dying words" or "famous last words". A work of unprecedented scope and study; covering the final utterances of noted people over the span of thousands of years and the entire globe. Each person is presented with a relevant biographical treatment. Each entry is meticulously documented, citing best sources available. Connection or relation of cited sources to entries are presented. Accuracy or veracity of reputed "last words" is often questioned. Conflicting variations of reported "last words" for many entries are presented for the purpose of further research and the work contains a detailed selected annotated bibliography of significant "last word" sources. Well indexed. The conclusion of more than a dozen years work and consultation of tens of thousands of sources, Last Words of Notable People is the largest and best reviewed work on the topic.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

William B. Brahms is an American librarian, encyclopedist, author and historian best known for his encyclopedic works on historical "lasts" (as opposed to "firsts"). He graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Cap and Skull from Rutgers College with a B.A. and from Rutgers University Graduate School of Communication Information and Library Studies with an M.L.S. He has spent his entire career working in public libraries in New Jersey. Currently he manages and is Chief Librarian at the Camden County, New Jersey Library System. He is also President of Reference Desk Press, Inc. and has published seven books, including the major library reference works Notable Last Facts which was selected as an "Achievement in Publishing" in Booklist's 2005 Editor's Choice issue and "Last Words of Notable People" which was profiled in Kirkus author Q & A in Kirkus Reviews and featured in Reader's Digest, The Atlantic and Mental Floss and other publications. Last Words of Notable People was also the source of a widely -viewed video by best-selling author, John Green called “Geeking Out over Dying Declarations.” Brahms has also written several books on regional history. In particular, his books on Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey are standard sources for historical information on Franklin Township, where he served as official Township Historian for six years. These works include: Franklin Township Somerset County, NJ: A History, and Images of America: Franklin Township Brahms is also the official historian of several organizations where he has produced historical material that are basic reference works on those groups including the Cap and Skull Society. His book on the historic Westmont Theatre in Westmont, New Jersey is a tie-in to the film The Grand Old Lady directed by Brent J. Donaway; a film in which Brahms also appears. He is also co-author of another title in the national Image of America series, Images of America: Haddon Township about Haddon Township, New Jersey.

Dalla seconda/terza di copertina:

Librarian Bill Brahms started to accumulate information for Notable Last Facts and Last Words of Notable People, in the early 1990s as a graduate library student at Rutgers University. While reviewing core reference sources in a class on reference librarianship, the topic of notable "firsts" was discussed and an excellent encyclopedic resource was demonstrated. This prompted Bill to ask: Where would one go to look up famous or notable "lasts?" When his question yielded nothing definitive, the idea (or rather the need) for an extensive basic reference work on "lasts" was born. Notable Last Facts was released in 2005 to wide critical acclaim and is now a core reference work in thousands of libraries. While researching "last facts," Bill began to come across a large number of reputed "last words" or "famous last words," of people. When he saw the remarkable variety of versions reported and that few gave a cited source, Bill began to collect these too. There are numerous lists on the Internet and a number of books published over the years which endeavored to bring together a collection of "famous last words" (or as Bill prefers to call them "Last Words of Notable People"), however these works almost exclusively do not cite historic sources for the vast majority of the quotes and many of the quoted last words were dubious, doubtful, misquoted or clearly contrived after the death of the person. These issues arise because tracking last words is difficult and history has often been rewritten to lionize or vilify individuals or add to an insightful, humorous or ironic twist to versions of last words. Regrettably, almost all of the published works of reputed last words were treated and marketed, non-scholarly, generally as novelties or in the humor or miscellaneous trivia sections in book stores -- all lacked attempts to cite a vetted source or reference work for each entry and the these compilations tended to be greatly limited in scope. A few attempts have been made over the course of history to study and list last words more seriously, but as resources they too are limited in scope (number of entries and breadth of coverage) and almost all are more than 50 years old. Last Words of Notable People is the first compilation "last words" that is of a "library reference book" magnitude. It is also the first compilation to source every entry including "Variations" and "Different Last Words" as well as additionally annotating many sources including those of doubtful or dubious last words. Brief biography of 3500-plus entries are each followed by sourced quotations (many annotated). Quotations, drawn from tens of thousands of references, span the globe and millennia. "Different Last Words," and similar known "Variations" of last words are both presented. Quotations suspected as bogus are also discussed. In short, Last Words of Notable People is the largest, most scholarly and comprehensive compilation of recorded last words ever published.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Reference Desk Press, Inc.
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0976532581
• ISBN 13: 9780976532583
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 678