Tag Archives: Grave Hunting Books

Book Review: Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites by Brian Lamb

26 Saturday May 2012

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 Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites by Brian Lamb

Published by Public Affairs Books; Revised & Updated Third Ed, February 2010; ISBN 9781586488697; Pages: 247; Price: $16.95 U.S./$21.50 Canada.

One of the books I have in my growing grave hunting/cemetery book library. Is an interesting approach to the typical cemetery/grave hunting related books you’d find in your local bookstore or on websites like Amazon. The literary work I’m talking about is “Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites” by Brian Lamb.

“Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites” chronicles the lives (and usually the death’s) of each of the forty-four United States Presidents starting with our nations first President George Washington, and ending with our current President Barack Obama. Each biographical sketch between the covers of this fabulous book is narrated with a concise life story of the President being discussed.

Each biographical narrative of the forty-four Presidents, highlights that Presidents life, during his time in the Oval Office. Each well written concise biography also chronicles their lives after leaving office. Some of the highlights you will be overwhelmed with fascination include some of the positive, and negative impacts each President had on the American public while in office.

Some of the features you will find nestled in this book includes the statistical data of each President when he was in office, their birth/death dates, age at death, cause of death, in most cases their final words, etc. Another tidbit I find really fascinating is an imprint of each Presidents signature which is off to the side at the beginning of their respective biographical narratives.

This book includes forty-eight pages of beautiful glossy photos of Presidential gravesites (for those who’ve died) in many cases their official libraries, and homes they grew up in. Also included in the book in Appendix A through F is even more statistical data which includes lists of cemeteries the Presidents are buried in, who died in office, length of retirement after leaving office, gravesites by state, and presidential libraries.

Finally to close. This book is a must have for your collection. If your into Presidential history, American history, grave hunting, and things of that sort. While politics is not really my forte, I was easily blown away by what I learned about our nations forty-four Presidents. Needless to say I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Book Review: Who's Buried In Grant's Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites by Brian Lamb

26 Saturday May 2012

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 Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites by Brian Lamb

Published by Public Affairs Books; Revised & Updated Third Ed, February 2010; ISBN 9781586488697; Pages: 247; Price: $16.95 U.S./$21.50 Canada.

One of the books I have in my growing grave hunting/cemetery book library. Is an interesting approach to the typical cemetery/grave hunting related books you’d find in your local bookstore or on websites like Amazon. The literary work I’m talking about is “Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites” by Brian Lamb.

“Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites” chronicles the lives (and usually the death’s) of each of the forty-four United States Presidents starting with our nations first President George Washington, and ending with our current President Barack Obama. Each biographical sketch between the covers of this fabulous book is narrated with a concise life story of the President being discussed.

Each biographical narrative of the forty-four Presidents, highlights that Presidents life, during his time in the Oval Office. Each well written concise biography also chronicles their lives after leaving office. Some of the highlights you will be overwhelmed with fascination include some of the positive, and negative impacts each President had on the American public while in office.

Some of the features you will find nestled in this book includes the statistical data of each President when he was in office, their birth/death dates, age at death, cause of death, in most cases their final words, etc. Another tidbit I find really fascinating is an imprint of each Presidents signature which is off to the side at the beginning of their respective biographical narratives.

This book includes forty-eight pages of beautiful glossy photos of Presidential gravesites (for those who’ve died) in many cases their official libraries, and homes they grew up in. Also included in the book in Appendix A through F is even more statistical data which includes lists of cemeteries the Presidents are buried in, who died in office, length of retirement after leaving office, gravesites by state, and presidential libraries.

Finally to close. This book is a must have for your collection. If your into Presidential history, American history, grave hunting, and things of that sort. While politics is not really my forte, I was easily blown away by what I learned about our nations forty-four Presidents. Needless to say I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Book Review: Forever L.A. A Field Guide To Los Angeles Area Cemeteries & Their Residents

15 Wednesday Sep 2010

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Recently I got a copy of the book “Forever L.A. A Field Guide To Los Angeles Area Cemeteries & Their Residents” by Douglas Keister. The publisher is Gibbs-Smith and retails for $19.99 at your local, or favorite online bookstore and has 156 pages.

The Low Down:

This was the first book I’ve read by the critically acclaimed author and photographer Douglas Keister.  Not being too familiar with Doug’s work besides what I’ve read about him online. I was seriously looking forward to what he had to offer in this book.

In the first half of the book Doug takes the readers on a tour of 12 of the main cemeteries in Los Angeles.  A sampling of those cemeteries include but is not limited to Forest Lawn Glendale,  & Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills,  Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Inglewood Memorial Park, & Westwood Village Memorial Park.

The second half of the book covers architecture found in the cemetery, symbols, secret societies/clubs which have their symbols adorned on grave markers, etc.

While not everyone who was famous in Hollywood is mentioned  most of the key figures are. Were talking you got The Three Stooges, Rudolf Valentino, George Burns & Gracie Allen, and the list goes on.

The nicely detailed colorful photos were one of my favorite things about the book. Add that for pretty much everyone listed in this book GPS coordinates are included.  One of the neat things I thought was nice about this book is that it was small enough to fit in your back pocket, but big enough where the typeset wouldn’t hurt the eyes.

One feature I thought was really classy was the fact that in the back of the book. There is a fold out map which lists the major roads with a caricature which represents the cemeteries in the greater Los Angeles area. Another thing I thought was helpful in the back of the book there was a complete listing of practically all the cemeteries in and around Los Angeles with GPS coördinates, and contact/website info included.

Bottom Line:

This book must be at the top of your list of grave hunting books to buy. Its got everything a grave hunting book should have, and more. Plus it comes HIGHLY recommended by me.

Review: Permanently New Yorkers by Patricia Brooks

25 Sunday Oct 2009

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permanentlynewyorkersbookcover

This past Summer I purchased the book “Permanently New Yorkers: Final Digs of The Notable & Notorious” by Patricia Brooks from the Amazon website.

To begin the book has 309 pages including the appendix, and index. The retail price for the book is $14.95. However if you buy the book from Amazon.com you will only have to pay $8.92 which covers the one hell of a bargain price of $4.93 which Amazon is offering the book at plus shipping. Shipping costs may vary depending on how soon you want the book in your hands.

The format of the book is pretty much the same to the authors other two grave hunting related books (Laid To Rest In California, and Where The Bodies Are). The thing that is comparable to the other titles by the same author is that she includes these widget boxes spread throughout the book entitled “Lunch Break”, “House Call”, etc. When you see these boxes in the book they mention local restaurants to check out, or places to visit significant to the personages on the particular page.

One of the interesting things about this book being that it’s geared towards cemeteries in the state of New York. Is that it features a whole spectrum of notables who had something or the other to do with literature, music in the form of musicians from the Jazz age, and other eras. While at the same time covering celebrities who were involved with the movie industry, military figures, wealthy people from the state, along with gangsters.

The thing which I enjoyed about the book was that it included somewhat detailed biographical info on various people I didn’t know about, along with the black & white photos of the grave sites.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that on the gangsters mentioned. There wasn’t much in the form of detailed biographical info about them. Just a few blurbs here and there at the beginning of each part when listing the brief overview of who was buried in the cemetery. I also got kinda bored reading about the Jazz age musicians. But if that’s your taste in music more power to you.

Overall its a great book with lots of photos, great information, with intricately placed wording on the biographies. If you’ve never been to New York like my self and wish to learn more about the people buried there. Or if your interested in reading about people from the world of literature, or Jazz themed music, or notables who had something to do with New York I highly recommend this book.

Book Review: Laid To Rest In California: A Guide To The Cemeteries & Grave Sites Of The Rich & Famous

31 Friday Jul 2009

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About two years ago while visiting my sweetheart who resides outside of Sacramento.  I was browsing around the local Borders Books retail store near where she lives. Being that I was in California at the time and trying to figure out the perfect book to pick up while I was there. I purchased the Book “Laid To Rest In California: A Guide To The Cemeteries & Grave Sites Of The Rich & Famous” by Patricia & Jonathan Brooks.  Being that I’m an avid grave hunter I knew I had to have this book after all I was in the great state of California where grave hunting is a very popular hobby and pass time.

The book retails for 15.95 and has 340 pages including 9 chapters covering cities in Southern California  such as Hollywood, Los Angeles, Glendale, Culver City, among others. And geographic areas in Northern California which include the Sacramento and San Francisco regions.

There is a full cast of luminaries listed throughout the book with brief biographical information listed for most of the personages along with grave site locations, and photos of various grave sites on most of the pages.

One of the neat things I thought was a nice complement to go along with the book were various boxes on the pages entitled “Lunch Break”, “Film Vault”,  and “House Call”. The Lunch Break boxes would include local eateries to stop in to have lunch while you were grave hunting with addresses and phone numbers mentioned for the establishments listed.  The Film Vault boxes listed a particular motion picture a celebrity took part in. These would be on the page with a particular biography. And finally the House Call boxes would list the phone numbers and addresses of local museums where someone in the book had artwork, or other forms of artifacts, and in some cases the real house they lived in.

All in all this book was very enjoyable to read. I liked the fact that there were cemeteries in Northern part of the state mentioned not just in the Southern part.

Josh