Jim Sheeler

A poignant survey of the way America honors fallen soldiers, based on the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning story by the same name, follows the experiences of a Marine major whose duties include casualty notification, a responsibility involving unexpected and untrained acts of compassion.

A Story of Unfinished Lives

Final Salute

They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear. Since the start of the war in Iraq, Marines like Major Steve Beck found themselves charged with a mission they never asked for and one for which there can be no training: casualty notification. In Final Salute, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim Sheeler weaves together the stories of the fallen, the broken homes they have left behind, and one man's effort to help heal the wounds of those left grieving. But it is not a book about war, politics, or liberal vs. conservative. Achingly beautiful and honest, it is a book that every American-every human-can embrace.

Stephen Miller

Alana Baranick

Life on the Death Beat is a guide to obituary writing. It helps journalists effectively research and write obituaries that inform readers.

A Handbook for Obituary Writers

Life on the Death Beat

Like Everything I Really Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten, or Tuesdays with Morrie, Obit is a wise and deeply moving book that illuminates the human condition. For ten years, Jim Sheeler has scoured Colorado looking for subjects whose stories he will tell for the last time. Most are unknowns, but that doesn't mean they're nobodies. Their obituaries are sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, and chock full of life lessons as taught by the people we all pass on the street every day. And thanks to Sheeler's brilliant and compassionate prose, it's not too late to meet them.

Jim Sheeler

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