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Last Words of Notable People -- Final Words of More than 3500 Noteworthy People Throughout History is a comprehensive core reference work on "Last Words" or "famous last words." A work of unprecedented scope and study, covering noted people over the span thousands of years and the entire globe. Each entry is presented with a relevant biographical treatment and is meticulously documented, citing best sources available. Connection or relation of cited sources to entries are presented. Accuracy or veracity traditionally quoted or reported, reputed "last words" is often questioned and an explanations and source is provided. Conflicting variations of reported "last words" for many entries are presented for the purpose of further research. All are sourced. Contains a detailed selected annotated bibliography of significant "last words" sources. Indexed. The conclusion of more than a dozen years work and consultation of tens of thousands of sources, Last Words of Notable People is the most comprehensive and scholarly reference regarding recorded "last words" compiled to date. Highly recommended for public, academic, and secondary school libraries and research collections.

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CHOICE Review

Here is one-stop shopping for those curious about the final known remarks of famous (or infamous) persons throughout the history of the Western world. The compiler, an experienced librarian, has generated a work that he no doubt has wished for many times. Averaging a little over a hundred words, the alphabetically arranged entries include individuals' years of life, occupation or profession, relevant personal details, accomplishments, reports of final written or oral words, their context, and the source. Questionable ("Doubtful") findings are noted, as are "Variations" of similar or translated words. Some societal groups, such as politicians, military and religious leaders (including martyrs), writers, artists, musicians, criminals, and modern sports figures, are better represented than others, the compiler admits. Some entries present insignificant or utilitarian final words (those of Roger Maris), whereas others are humorous (J. P. Sousa). Several entries omit final words altogether (Nixon, Shakespeare, Wilde). Omitted notables likely signify persons for whom no information exists. Besides individual print and Internet sources, the book features a selective, annotated bibliography of some 65 works consulted. The index reveals names of people not included as main entries. Most libraries serving the general public will need access to this work, and likely use it more than they imagined. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers. D. G. Davis Jr. emeritus, University of Texas at Austin

Booklist Review

Some, such as Michelangelo's or John Bunyan's last words, sound like family or friends wrote them postmortem; some sound glib (murderer Gary Gilmore's Let's do it ); some despairing (Freud's Now it's nothing but torture and makes no sense anymore ); some cryptic (Smollett's All is well, my dear ); some cruelly ironic (Benazir Bhutto's Long live Bhutto! ); some fitting (aviation pioneer Georges Chavez's Higher. Always higher ); and some planned, such as Archbishop Laud's more than 100 word public prayer before he was executed. The last words attributed to St. Paul, Rasputin, Oliver Cromwell, Judas Maccabaeus, and other notable historic figures are in dispute, with competing statements recorded, each with its sources cited in this compilation organized A-Z by the speakers' names. Author Brahms (Notable Last Facts, 2005) honors 3,500-plus of them, introducing each with birth and death dates, a thumbnail biography, and notes about the circumstances in which the last words were written or uttered. In cases where two or more last utterances are attributed to an individual, they are labeled as Variations if they are similar, and Different Last Words if they are dissimilar. Quotations that are probably bogus are labeled as Doubtful. This collection is more eclectically international and includes more entries than Edward Le Comte's Dictionary of Last Words (1955), with its American and European emphases. Because variant names appear as see references in the body of the book, the index by names verges on redundancy. Brahms provides interesting and sometimes informative final biographical tidbits from the mouths and pens of biblical figures and ancient authors through Frank Sinatra and John Denver. This specialty niche resource complements numerous biographical compendiums that focus on the lives of history's notable kings, murderers, scientists, artists, politicians, preachers, and more.--Rettig, James Copyright 2010 Booklist