Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, M.D., is the woman who has transformed the way
the world thinks about death and dying. Beginning with the
groundbreaking publication of the classic psychological study On Death
and Dying, through her many books and her years working with terminally
ill children, AIDS patients and the elderly, Kubler-Ross has brought
comfort and understanding to millions coping with their own deaths or
the deaths of loved ones. Now, facing her own death at age seventy-one,
this world-renowned healer tells the story of her life and explores her
ultimate truth - death does not exist. Written frankly and with warmth,
Kubler-Ross's memoir traces the intellectual and spiritual development
of a destiny. "If I am opinionated and independent, " she writes, "if I
am stuck in my ways, if I am a little off center, so what? That is me."
Her trademark conviction, one that has taken on dogma, prejudice and
skepticism, was present as a girl in Switzerland, where the young
Elisabeth observed the injustices of the world and vowed to change them.
From her work in war-ravaged Poland to her pioneering counseling of the
terminally ill, to her legendary seminars on death and dying at the
University of Chicago, to her eye-opening discussions with those who had
been revived after death, each experience provided Kubler-Ross with a
piece of the puzzle. In a culture determined to sweep death under a
carpet and hide it there, Kubler-Ross consistently defied common wisdom
to bring it into the light and hold it there for us to see and not be
afraid. Driven by compassion, undeterred by obstacles, she shows the
reader through the story of her remarkable life that free will is our
greatest gift and that our goal is spiritual evolution.
