On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss

Shortly before her death in 2004, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler, her collaborator, completed the manuscript for this, her final book. On Grief and Grieving is a fitting completion to her work. Thirty-six years and sixteen books ago, Kübler-Ross's groundbreaking On Death and Dying changed the way we talk about the end of life. Now On Grief and Grieving will profoundly influence the way we experience the process of grief.
On Death and Dying began as a theoretical book, an interdisciplinary study of our fear of death and our inevitable acceptance of it. It introduced the world to the now-famous five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. On Grief and Grieving applies these stages to the process of grieving and weaves together theory, inspiration, and practical advice, all based on Kübler-Ross's and Kessler's professional and personal experiences, and is filled with brief, topic-driven stories. It includes sections on sadness, hauntings, dreams, coping, children, healing, isolation, and even the subject of sex during grief.
"I know death is close," Kübler-Ross says at the end of the book, "but not quite yet. I lie here like so many people over the years, in a bed surrounded by flowers and looking out a big window....I now know that the purpose of my life is more than these stages....It is not just about the life lost but also the life lived."
In one of their final writing sessions, Kübler-Ross told Kessler, "The last nine years have taught me patience, and the weaker and more bed-bound I become, the more I'm learning about receiving love."
On Grief and Grieving is Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's final legacy, one that brings her life's work profoundly full circle.

• On Death and Dying (Scribner Classics)
• Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living
• On Life after Death, revised
• On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families
• Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living
• Death: The Final Stage of Growth (Human development books)
• It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand
• Healing a Spouse's Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Husband or Wife Dies (Healing Your Grieving Heart series)
• Death: The Final Stage of Growth
• Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations For Working Through Grief