Skip to main content Site map

Comfort of People, The


Comfort of People, The

Hardback by Miller, Daniel (University College London, UK)

Comfort of People, The

WAS £50.00   SAVE £7.50

£42.50

ISBN:
9781509524310
Publication Date:
29 Sep 2017
Language:
English
Publisher:
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:
Polity Press
Pages:
236 pages
Format:
Hardback
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 27 - 29 May 2024
Comfort of People, The

Description

At the end of life, our comfort lies mainly in relationships. In this book, Daniel Miller, one of the world's leading anthropologists, examines the social worlds of people suffering from terminal or long-term illness. Threading together a series of personal stories, based on interviews conducted with patients of an English hospice, Miller draws out the implications of these narratives for our understanding of community, friendship, and kinship, but also loneliness and isolation. This is a book about people's lives, not their deaths: about the hospice patients rather than the hospice. It focuses on the comfort given by friends, carers and relatives through both face-to-face relations and, increasingly, online communication. Miller asks whether the loneliness and isolation he uncovers is the result of a decline of English patterns of socialising, or their continuation. This moving and deeply humane book combines warmth and sharp observation with anthropological insight and practical suggestions for the use of media by the hospice. It will be of interest not only to students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, social policy and media and cultural studies, but also to healthcare professionals and, indeed, to anyone who would like to know more about the role of relationships in the final stage of our lives.

Contents

Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction Story 1) Sarah Story 2) Champneys for the Terminal Story 3) The Curse Of Confidentiality Story 4) Parkinson?s Story 5) Four Friends Story 6) Betty and Gloria Story 7) Tom, Dick and Robin Rigby Story 8) My Fair Lady Story 9) Maypole Story 10) Control Centre Story 11) Our Forum Story 12) Depression Story 13) Community Story 14) Bluebells Story 15) The Intimacy Of Strangers Story 16) The Silent Community Story 17) In This Room Story 18) Matt Conclusions Recommendations for Hospice Use of New Media Bibliography

Back

Teesside University logo