Assisted Dying: An Ethnographic Murder Mystery on Florida's Gold Coast

(Paperback)

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Assisted Dying is an ethnographically based murder mystery that uses the unexplained deaths of elderly people on Floridas Gold Coast as a way of examining American cultural values. Diversity, immigration and the American Dream, aging, retirement, death, and dying are just some of the issues that are illuminated. Cultural anthropologist Julie Norman is drawn deeper into the mystery when her aunt becomes the latest victim. Julies ethnographic methodology and cultural perspectives, her previous involvement in a murder case recounted in The Gift of a Bride: A Tale of Anthropology, Matrimony and Murder, along with the insights of Detective Mike Cardella and the Miami police department, all help to solve the mystery.

Assisted Dying engages students as a supplementary text to apply concepts from the social sciences, literature, and communications to issues of current interest in the United States and beyond. The novel is part of a popular movement toward using alternative and creative forms to convey academic information and concepts in the classroom. To further this aim, the social and cultural content of each chapter is extended in a bibliographic essay and discussion questions. This book will be welcomed in courses on cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, sociology, gerontology, American studies, psychology, gender, ethnic studies, and other social sciences.

Reviews

Serena Nanda and Joan Gregg take us on an exquisite ethnographic journey through the Gold Coast of Florida. The anthropologist in their story discovers an age-stratified, social class-ranked, ethnically diverse world where no one walks and everyone drives. Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows is a mass murderer in a white coat. This riveting novel and social critique is a page-turner that will keep you on edge right to the very end. -- Douglas A. Feldman, professor of anthropology, The College at Brockport, State University of New York; president-elect, Society for Medical Anthropo
The novel offers a pleasant learning experience, no small feat.... [Assisted Dying] shares a crucial message: engaged anthropology offers not only edifying insight into one's own place in the social universe but also delivers useful perspectives on concrete social issues. * General Anthropology *

Author Bio

Serena Nanda is professor emeritus of anthropology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. Joan Gregg is professor emeritus of English literature at New York City Technical College, CUNY. Their first collaborative murder mystery, The Gift of a Bride, was published by AltaMira Press in 2009.