Living With Death

December 20, 2019

In the United States, we have come to see death as an emergency. We call the doctors, the nurses, the police, the emergency workers, the funeral staff to take over for us. They hurry corpses from hospital rooms or bedrooms into designated, chilled death spaces. They dig and fill the graves for us and drive our loved ones, alone, to the crematories. They turn on the furnace, lift the bodies, close the door. There may be no other rite of passage around which we have become more passive.

In our cover story this week, Maggie Jones writes about a movement to change all this, led by home-funeral guides who believe that spending time with and tending to the bodies of their deceased loved ones can help families in the grieving process.

OUR COVER STORY

Andres Gonzalez for The New York Times

Feature

The Movement to Bring Death Closer

Home-funeral guides believe that families can benefit from tending to — and spending time with — the bodies of their deceased.

By Maggie Jones

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Inside Wayne LaPierre’s Battle for the N.R.A.

How an internal power struggle, a New York State investigation and accusations of fraud and betrayal on all sides have left the longtime leader of the gun-rights organization reeling.

By Danny Hakim

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times

Talk

She Changed the Way We Eat. She Wants to Fix Our Democracy, Too.

Frances Moore Lappé popularized the idea that plant-based diets were good for the planet. But her focus has been on politics all along.

By David Marchese

Illustration by Ori Toor

Studies Show

Is Screen Time Really Bad for Kids?

It depends on many factors, including what you even mean by “screen time.”

By Kim Tingley

Photo illustration by Mike McQuade. Sources from left: John Lamparski/Getty Images; Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Screenland

How the Internet Came to Loathe Pete Buttigieg

It’s natural for a rising candidate to get kicked around. But the nature of the backlash says a lot about the past decade of Democratic politics.

By Charles Homans

David Brandon Geeting for The New York Times

Letter Of Recommendation

Letter of Recommendation: Cheap Sushi

It makes the sublime available to the masses — what’s so bad about that?

By Jonathan Malesic

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BEHIND THE COVER

Our video series is back. Watch how our covers are made.

Cover illustration by Deanne Cheuk

Issue 12.22.19

Behind the Cover: Living With Death

Our video series is back for a second season. For this issue, we look at a more personal relationship with death.

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