This remarkable book--the fruit of almost two decades of study--traces in compelling fashion the changes in Western attitudes toward death and dying from the earliest Christian times to the present day. A truly landmark study, The Hour of Our Death reveals a pattern of gradually developing evolutionary stages in our perceptions of life in relation to death, each stage representing a virtual redefinition of human nature. Starting at the very foundations of Western culture, the eminent historian Phillipe Aries shows how, ...
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This remarkable book--the fruit of almost two decades of study--traces in compelling fashion the changes in Western attitudes toward death and dying from the earliest Christian times to the present day. A truly landmark study, The Hour of Our Death reveals a pattern of gradually developing evolutionary stages in our perceptions of life in relation to death, each stage representing a virtual redefinition of human nature. Starting at the very foundations of Western culture, the eminent historian Phillipe Aries shows how, from Graeco-Roman times through the first ten centuries of the Common Era, death was too common to be frightening; each life was quietly subordinated to the community, which paid its respects and then moved on. Aries identifies the first major shift in attitude with the turn of the eleventh century when a sense of individuality began to rise and with it, profound consequences: death no longer meant merely the weakening of community, but rather the destruction of self . Hence the growing fear of the afterlife, new conceptions of the Last Judgment, and the first attempts (by Masses and other rituals) to guarantee a better life in the next world. In the 1500s attention shifted from the demise of the self to that of the loved one (as family supplants community), and by the nineteenth century death comes to be viewed as simply a staging post toward reunion in the hereafter. Finally, Aries shows why death has become such an unendurable truth in our own century--how it has been nearly banished from our daily lives--and points out what may be done to "re-tame" this secret terror. The richness of Aries's source material and investigative work is breathtaking. While exploring everything from churches, religious rituals, and graveyards (with their often macabre headstones and monuments), to wills and testaments, love letters, literature, paintings, diaries, town plans, crime and sanitation reports, and grave robbing complaints, Aries ranges across Europe to Russia on the one hand and to England and America on the other. As he sorts out the tangled mysteries of our accumulated terrors and beliefs, we come to understand the history--indeed the pathology--of our intellectual and psychological tensions in the face of death.
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Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death (Oxford Paperbacks) to cart. $4.77, good condition, Sold by Once Upon A Time Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tontitown, AR, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear. This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear.
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death (Oxford Paperbacks) to cart. $4.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death (Oxford Paperbacks) to cart. $4.99, good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death (Oxford Paperbacks) to cart. $5.00, good condition, Sold by HPB-Red rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials such as access codes, etc. May have some wear or writing/highlighting. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death (Oxford Paperbacks) to cart. $6.39, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death to cart. $10.00, very good condition, Sold by Chaparral Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Knopf.
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Clean and unmarked in Very Good jacket. Size: 9x6x1; Book is in Very Good condition, with minimal handling and light shelfwear, binding is tight, corners are sharp, interior is clean, text is free of markings. Dust jacket has a few short tears but is otherwise quite nice and clean. 651 pp.
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death to cart. $10.51, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Alfred A. Knopf.
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death (Oxford Paperbacks) to cart. $11.00, good condition, Sold by Solr Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincolnwood, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death (Peregrine Books) to cart. $11.88, good condition, Sold by Idaho Youth Ranch Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boise, ID, UNITED STATES, published 1983 by Penguin Books Ltd.
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Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or limited small stickers. Book may have a remainder mark or be a price cutter.
Add this copy of The Hour of Our Death: the Classic History of Western to cart. $11.96, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Vintage.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
