A Social History of Dying

Qoqnoos Publishing Group in Tehran has released “A Social History of Dying,” written by Australian author and sociologist Allan Kellehear, specializing in medical and public health and with interests in death, dying and end-of-life care.

Originally published in 2007 by Cambridge University Press, the book is now translated into Persian by Qasem Daliri. It comes in 424 pages about experiences of dying shaped by ancient ideas about death and social responsibility at the end of life, Mehr News Agency reported.

In his book, Kellehear takes the reader on a two million-year journey of discovery that covers the major challenges everybody will face: anticipating, preparing for and timing eventual deaths.

The historical approach of the book places recent images of cancer dying and medical care in broader historical, medical and global context. Dying is traced from its origins as an otherworld journey to its later development as “good death” or “well-managed” dying in modern societies.  However, Professor Kellehear argues that most “dyings” are not well managed. Instead, “we are witnessing a rise in shameful forms of dying. It is not cancer, heart disease or medical science that present modern dying with its greatest moral tests, but rather poverty, ageing and social exclusion.”