More About The Book
Death may be the great equalizer, but not all deaths are created equal. When someone dies indigent, homeless, disenfranchised from society, or without family or friends, there may be no easy path to resting in peace. With over half a million people experiencing homelessness in the US. Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins, a collection of closely connected essays, takes the reader on a journey into what happens to those who die while experiencing homelessness or who end up indigent or unclaimed at the end of life.
Too Poor to Die bears witness to the disparities in death and dying faced by some of society’s most vulnerable and marginalized and asks the reader to consider their own end-of-life and disposition plans within the larger context of how privilege and access plays a role in what we want versus what we get in death.
Reviews of Too Poor to Die
“An unflinching and illuminating look at subjects that our culture too often sweeps under the rug but can no longer afford to ignore. Shea’s prose glimmers with creativity, compassion, and deep intelligence.”
~ Justin Hocking, author of A Field Guide to the Subterranean: A Memoir.
“Amy Shea’s Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins is an urgently needed book that challenges so many of the end-of-life assumptions that run rampant across the seemingly non-stop death and dying self-help industrial publishing complex. Too few books actually take the time to discuss what actually happens when you die homeless, alone, and without contactable immediate family. Let alone, how just because a person is homeless doesn’t mean they aren’t loved, grieved or missed.”
~ John Troyer, author of Technologies of the Human Corpse
“In her powerful book, Too Poor to Die, Dr. Shea captures the many indignities and challenges that the unhoused and disenfranchised individuals among us experience, bringing these into sharp, undeniable focus.”
~ Jeanette Meyers, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, CCNS, PCCN-K, ACHPN
“Shea pulls no punches in illustrating the ‘raw reality of poverty and homelessness in death’ so that we can better understand the inequities and disparities, and inspire change. With heart and detail, she takes us on her journey of first-hand learning about the social and cultural problems associated with who is ‘deserving’ of dignity, close to death and once dead. . . . Too Poor to Die is for anyone who is interested in social injustices in our society.”
~ Laura Carrol, Read full review HERE.
“While I’ve always had sympathy for this community, I now have a deeper understanding of the complex struggles they face and how we need to do more as a society to care for these marginalized communities, both in life and death.”
~ Ava DePasquale for Reader, Read full review HERE.
AMY SHEA | WRITER, EDUCATOR, ADVOCATE 