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“A rare and compassionate look into the lives of Americans who go unclaimed when they die and those who dedicate their lives to burying them with dignity.”—Matthew Desmond, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Poverty, by America “A work of grace . . . Both cleareyed and disturbing, yet pulsing with empathy.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice) For centuries, people who died destitute or alone were buried in potters’ fields—a Dickensian end that even the most hard-pressed families tried to avoid. Today, more and more relatives are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to dispose of the bodies. Up to 150,000 Americans now go unclaimed each year. Who are they? Why are they being forgotten? And what is the meaning of life if your death doesn’t matter to others? In this extraordinary work of narrative nonfiction, eight years in the making, sociologists Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans uncover a hidden social world. They follow four individuals in Los Angeles, tracing the twisting, poignant paths that put each at risk of going unclaimed, and introducing us to the scene investigators, notification officers, and crematorium workers who care for them when no one else will. The Unclaimed lays bare the difficult truth that anyone can be abandoned. It forces us to confront a variety of social ills, from the fracturing of families and the loneliness of cities to the toll of rising inequality. But it is also filled with unexpected moments of tenderness. In Boyle Heights, a Mexican American neighborhood not far from the glitter of Hollywood, hundreds of strangers come together each year to mourn the deaths of people they never knew. These ceremonies, springing up across the country, reaffirm our shared humanity and help mend our frayed social fabric. Beautifully crafted and profoundly empathetic, The Unclaimed urges us to expand our circle of caring—in death and in life.
“A rare and compassionate look into the lives of Americans who go unclaimed when they die and those who dedicate their lives to burying them with dignity.”—Matthew Desmond, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Poverty, by America “A work of grace . . . Both cleareyed and disturbing, yet pulsing with empathy.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice) For centuries, people who died destitute or alone were buried in potters’ fields—a Dickensian end that even the most hard-pressed families tried to avoid. Today, more and more relatives are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to dispose of the bodies. Up to 150,000 Americans now go unclaimed each year. Who are they? Why are they being forgotten? And what is the meaning of life if your death doesn’t matter to others? In this extraordinary work of narrative nonfiction, eight years in the making, sociologists Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans uncover a hidden social world. They follow four individuals in Los Angeles, tracing the twisting, poignant paths that put each at risk of going unclaimed, and introducing us to the scene investigators, notification officers, and crematorium workers who care for them when no one else will. The Unclaimed lays bare the difficult truth that anyone can be abandoned. It forces us to confront a variety of social ills, from the fracturing of families and the loneliness of cities to the toll of rising inequality. But it is also filled with unexpected moments of tenderness. In Boyle Heights, a Mexican American neighborhood not far from the glitter of Hollywood, hundreds of strangers come together each year to mourn the deaths of people they never knew. These ceremonies, springing up across the country, reaffirm our shared humanity and help mend our frayed social fabric. Beautifully crafted and profoundly empathetic, The Unclaimed urges us to expand our circle of caring—in death and in life.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the cover1.
New Directions
Bobby Ray Hanna paced backstage. He was fifty-one years old but looked younger, his brown skin smooth and unlined. His hair and mustache were freshly trimmed, accentuating the roundness in his cheeks. As he tried to walk off his nerves, Bobby made sure not to wrinkle his collarless black button-down and matching slacks. His ex-wife, Clara Hanna, teased that he was worse than a girl when it came to his obsession with clothes. And shoes: If Bobby had money in his pocket, he couldn’t resist buying a pair. He had taken care to have his dress shoes mirror shined for that night’s special performance. It was June 2010, and the once homeless air force veteran was about to sing live on national television, for the NBC show America’s Got Talent. He was there with the New Directions Veterans Choir, comprised of veterans who had either gone through the full-service treatment center or, like Bobby, were currently there.
Bobby had been dreaming of catching a musical break since he was a little boy sitting next to Michael Jackson in elementary school back in Gary, Indiana. The two boys, born only seven months apart, competed for solos in school recitals. Michael won every time. Bobby knew he was nowhere near the level of talent as of the future King of Pop, but he was convinced he could have made a successful career in music if his life had taken a few different turns. Now he would sing in front of millions of viewers, hoping for a shot at $1 million with his group.
It was Bobby’s tenacity that had gotten him into the choir. He hadn’t been in the New Directions treatment program long when he heard that the group would compete on television. He had little time to master the song the choir would sing on the show, “Ol’ Man River,” from the 1927 musical Show Boat. Bobby would be a tenor if he made the cut, but the choir’s founder, George Hill, didn’t think Bobby could learn the complicated song in time. Bobby wasn’t a trained singer, and his self-taught guitar skills were useless in an a cappella group.
He would not let go. This was the closest he had been to becoming a professional musician since his days in the air force in the 1980s, when he worked a side gig deejaying on river cruises in London.
George understood Bobby’s need to sing. There were days in his twelve years living on the streets that George didn’t care if he lived or died, but then he would start singing. He would belt out tunes for hours in the tunnels of MacArthur Park near downtown Los Angeles, until he felt better. George told Bobby that if he aced the song, he could join the reality competition. Sure enough, Bobby learned the lyrics and harmonies, earning his spot as a member of the ten-person, nearly all-Black group.
Bobby snuck off from the group backstage to make a call to Clara. The British-Indian expat was sitting in her West Los Angeles apartment, the same one that the former couple had shared in the last years of their marriage. They had met when Bobby was stationed in England, near a McDonald’s where then eighteen-year-old Clara worked. Bobby came in nearly every day for lunch, dressed in his uniform, trying to impress her. She knew her Catholic parents would not approve of her dating an airman, who they thought would break her heart. Two years passed before she said yes to a date. Soon after, the young Englishwoman found herself cruising the Thames, partying alongside her American boyfriend.
The adventure ended when Bobby was discharged and returned home to Gary, Indiana. They...
Reviews-
January 29, 2024 Sociologists Pickett (Believing in South Central) and Timmermans (Postmortem) offer a compassionate if somewhat shortsighted account of Los Angeles County’s “unclaimed dead.” Investigating the bureaucratic process triggered by death, the authors argue that it is mainly “deep estrangement” from family that leads to remains going unclaimed. Among other such cases, they profile David Spencer, a U.S. Navy veteran who died in 2017. His most closely related family, with whom he had not been in contact for nearly two decades, were told they had to pay out of pocket to transfer David’s body to a funeral home (the legal threshold of “claiming”) before they could process his estate or petition for a free military burial. They declined, and David was buried by the county, his funeral paid for from his savings. His relatives didn’t attend the service but inherited the rest of his estate, which a county bureaucrat interprets as a sign of their callous indifference, discounting their claims of poverty and disability. The authors unsatisfyingly conclude in tacit agreement with this perspective, advising readers to keep in touch with family to avoid an “unclaimed” fate (“We hope that you are not estranged from loved ones.... Make sure your loved ones know you care”), rather than highlighting needed reforms of a dysfunctional government process. It’s a moving slice of life with a dispiriting takeaway.
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Bahrain, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen
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