The “Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery” is a wonderful biography book about the Guard. Tom Cotton was a platoon leader with the storied 3ed U.S. Infantry Regiment. The Old Guard has personified the Ideals of integrity and sacrifice across our nation’s history. Living in the Greater DC area, Sacred Duty has given us a new appreciation for the Old Guard and history of Arlington National Cemetery and of the countless heroes on those nearby sacred grounds. Senator Cotton goes into detail of how demanding and intense it is to be a soldier conducting funerals. Having served in that unit, Tom Cotton explains his own experience how the Old Guard honors fallen soldiers. The Old Guard conducts daily military-honor funerals on the 624 rolling acres of Arlington. A level of respect that should be shared by all Americans.

The “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory” is a popular book which has been fascinated with the subject of death and dying. Caitlin Doughty is the author of this successful book. Caitlin is an American author, blogger and YouTube personality. Caitlin is the creator of the web series “Ask a Mortician”, and founder of The Good Death. Caitlin Doughty has been fascinated with the subject of death and dying.When she was a young girl and witnessed the death of another young girl who took a fall at a local mall. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes describes Caitlin experiences facing death straight on and how it actually eased her own existential angst.

The “From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death” is a great book which describes the death culture. The author of this informative book is Caitlin Doughty. She is an American mortician author and blogger. She writes many other books including Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory. In From Here to Eternity, Caitlin describes how different cultures look after the dead body. In this book, you will learn about death culture from all over the world, along with here in the United States. If you already watched any of Caitlin YouTube videos, then you will know what to expect from this book.

“On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss” is an impressive book to anyone who is experiencing the impending loss of a loved one or who has lost a loved one. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler are the authors of this classic book. God bless the authors who chose to write this book and for putting into words/validating what so many of us grieving ones feel after the loss of our loved ones after their death. When it seems like no one understands your pain, the authors write in this book as if they do which can make all the difference in the world while grieving knowing that you aren’t alone in how you feel. This is a wonderful book, it covers grief from all aspects and types of death. Have given it to friends and family many times, it really does help one come to terms with the death and gradually put the pieces together again so you can move forward with your life. This book provides an excellent window into the grieving process. This book is for anyone going through a loss of any kind. This may include being forced to move and losing a house, losing a job, recovering from an addiction, losing a physical capability or worst, losing a loved one. ‘On Grief and Grieving’, is a book that helps the reader understand why they grieve and how to cope in a positive way. On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the Five Stages of Loss by Elizabeth Kubler Ross and David Kessler is a must-read book, a compelling page-turner for we, that provides profound insights into the necessity that we must properly grieve the passing of our loved ones. As pointed out by the authors, the grieving process is not instinctual for us; it requires learning. It is particularly important that as adults that we don’t forget to teach our young about grieving, for if a child doesn’t grieve in an appropriate way for him or her, that repressed grief may surface years later, a phenomenon that sometimes happens to adults as well. The book is very humane and compassionate and “teaches with short, clear and concrete stories” that analyze some of the many possible surrounding circumstances that others have faced in losing loved ones. Potentially, we and the people we know could face such circumstances as well. In addition, with these stories, the authors provide relevant and insightful advice and the reasons for that advice. The authors state that “if you do not take the time to grieve, you cannot find a future in which loss is remembered and honored without pain.” They remind us that we will never forget our loss of a loved one and that we will never be the same; they also remind us that we can learn, when our own individual timetable suggests, that it may be possible to find “renewed meaning” in our lives. This renewed meaning will continue to include, “loving memories and honor for those we have lost.” Their combined efforts result in producing a highly readable, compassionate, insightful, and useful book, nothing short of superb. However, it is a great book to help anyone understand why we grief and positive ways to look at life even though it may seem bleak. We all grieve at some point.

“On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families” is an interesting and informative book on the process of how people deal with death and grief whether they are the person dying or perhaps a family member. Very insightful. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is the author of this impressive book. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D. book on Death and Dying is a must for all those interested in human behavior. A book by one of the most eminent writers on the psychology of death and dying, this volume goes through what the dying have to say to doctors, nurses, clergy and their own families. Other than the introductory chapters on the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, this volume is devoted to the interviews given by severely ill and dying patients to a class of medical and pastoral care professionals and those studying to fill these roles. This is an excellent sourcebook for anyone who cares for the sick, or who is struggling with the loss of friends or family members. This book to anyone with elderly or ailing friends or family members, or to anyone who works in healthcare. It’s written with respect and integrity, giving hope to the living and honoring the dying by helping assure them of a peaceful, dignified passing. It has become a cliche to say we live in a society that denies death. From her experiences with dying patients, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross sheds insight into how we face, or not face, death. She details the famous Five Stages –denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance through case studies of patients. The Kubler-Ross Model, for better or worse, has become the model from which academics and laypeople understand the process of dying. But more than the model, the book forces us to gaze death in the eyes and confront our fears. Only then can we integrate death into life and realize that death is part of our lives and indeed a vital part. If we deny it or even just neglect it, our lives become incomplete. We don’t have to obsess over death just as we don’t just focus on our health to the neglect of other parts of lives. When death becomes an integral part of our beings, our lives become more dynamic. Great insight into the psychology toward our ultimate end. On Death and Dying is not only for those facing death and their close ones, but for everyone, to prepare our journey to the end, and thus to gain strength in living our lives and in caring for those around us. Usually, we recommend this book to anyone that wishes to know more about the psychology of death and dying, and if you have a terminally ill loved one or have recently lost someone special.

“A Grief Observed” is an excellent book about those who have lost a loved one. C. S. Lewis is the author of this impressive book. A Grief Observed treats the reader to a very personal side of C.S. Lewis, a very intellectual man, whose books are otherwise so rational, they do not reveal this more personal side. The loss of his wife caused him to reflect back on his life, especially his faith, which in this journal, written during the days after her death, he questioned. Lewis, a confirmed intellectual bachelor, almost comically stumbled into a deeply romantic and erotic marriage late in life. An American poet, Joy Davidman, while visiting him in England is stricken with breast cancer. Her visa expired and she faced a mindlessly bureaucratic forced expulsion which probably would have killed her. Lewis agreed to what he expected to be a marriage of convenience, giving her a right to stay in England long enough to die peaceably. Unaccountably, almost impishly, she recovered and they became man and wife in fact and not just pro forma. Lewis is delighted, swept away and overwhelmed; he became radiantly happy. This brief moment of joy is snatched from him, however, as cancer reasserted itself. Lewis poured out his profound grief at the death of his wife on paper, sharing his thoughts, feelings, longings in a journal that became A Grief Observed. Unlike some of his other works, which are witty, philosophical, almost whimsical at times, this book is deeply personal and profoundly painful, almost raw in its emotional intensity. It is also a deep testament to Lewis’s faith. Like all humanity, he faced loss and suffering and death. Lewis, like Job, transforms is somehow able to hand over all this darkness to the Lord in an act of sheer faith. In A Grief Observed Lewis records his intense struggles with the fundamental questions of faith, love, grief, and the purpose of life. It’s clear that Lewis opened his heart into these notebook entries; the pages are loaded with spiritual candor and emotional depth. “Grief is like a long valley,” Lewis notes at one point, “a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.” We’re taken on that journey with Lewis as he shares many landscapes during the different contemplative seasons of his soul. We strongly recommend this to anyone who has recently lost a loved one.