For all the death that surrounds us, we don't talk about it much. The present reality of death can blindside us. A former professor of mine and I, both of us grieving the death of a parent, decided to compile a book of personal essays on how people have dealt with death. Our aim was to form a handbook of constructive ways to mourn, of helpful means of finding comfort, a kaleidoscope of views on different kinds of death. We hope we've created a rich spectrum of possibilities for how others might best deal with death and grief in their lives and move through the grieving process.

In _Mourning with Those Who Mourn_ fourteen authors share experiences with death from different perspectives-the loss of a son, a daughter, a mother, a father, a grandparent, the pain of miscarriage, infant death and suicide. The essays are as honest as they are reassuring. There is in the rainbow of perspectives in _Mourning with Those Who Mourn_ uncanny comfort. In the worst of human tragedies we seem to be at our best when we share, when we open ourselves to the reality of our own suffering and the suffering of our friends. Grief shared is love expanded, pain divided. Personal as the process of grieving is, death, like love, feels better shared.

People have wondered why Steve and I are so fascinated with something as morbid as death--why spend so much time writing a book about grieving? What we are really interested in, in our lives and in this book, is life. Death matters only because it is so crucial an aspect of our living. _Mourning with Those Who Mourn_ attempts to touch the mystery and inevitability and wonder which is death in a way which helps us to be more fully alive.