This landmark book draws on contributions from the social and behavioral sciences as well as the humanities, such as history, religion, philosophy, literature, and the arts, to provide thorough coverage of understanding death and the dying process.

The book focuses on individual and societal attitudes and how they influence both how and when we die and how we live and deal with the knowledge of death and loss. Robert Kastenbaum is a renowned scholar in the field who developed one of the world's first death education courses and introduced the first text for this market.

Topics that have been updated and expanded for this edition include: the effects of terrorist activity; life and death from various world religion perspectives; improving the care of the terminally ill; violent death; brain death and the implications of organ donation; and the cryonics movement.