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. --James Rettig
From the Inside Flap
Librarian Bill Brahms started to accumulate information for Notable Last Facts and Last Words of Notable People, in the early 1990s as a graduate library student at Rutgers University. While reviewing core reference sources in a class on reference librarianship, the topic of notable firsts was discussed and an excellent encyclopedic resource was demonstrated. This prompted Bill to ask: Where would one go to look up famous or notable lasts? When his question yielded nothing definitive, the idea (or rather the need) for an extensive basic reference work on lasts was born. Notable Last Facts was released in 2005 to wide critical acclaim and is now a core reference work in thousands of libraries. While researching last facts, Bill began to come across a large number of reputed last words or famous last words, of people. When he saw the remarkable variety of versions reported and that few gave a cited source, Bill began to collect these too. There are numerous lists on the Internet and a number of books published over the years which endeavored to bring together a collection of famous last words (or as Bill prefers to call them Last Words of Notable People ), however these works almost exclusively do not cite historic sources for the vast majority of the quotes and many of the quoted last words were dubious, doubtful, misquoted or clearly contrived after the death of the person. These issues arise because tracking last words is difficult and history has often been re-written to lionize or vilify individuals or add to an insightful, humorous or ironic twist to versions of last words. Regrettably, almost all of the published works of reputed last words were treated and marketed, non-scholarly, generally as novelties or in the humor or miscellaneous trivia sections in book stores -- all lacked attempts to cite a vetted source or reference work for each entry and the these compilations tended to be greatly limited in scope. A few attempts have been made over the course of history to study and list last words more seriously, but as resources they too are limited in scope (number of entries and breadth of coverage) and almost all are more than 50 years old. Last Words of Notable People is the first compilation last words that is of a library reference book magnitude. It is also the first compilation to source every entry including Variations and Different Last Words as well as additionally annotating many sources including those of doubtful or dubious last words. In short, Last Words of Notable People is the largest, most scholarly and comprehensive compilation of recorded last words ever published and a highly recommended and welcome addition to library and reference collections.
From the Back Cover
Last Words of Notable People (2010) is a comprehensive core reference work on last words, dying words or famous last words. A work of unprecedented scope and study...Covering the final utterances of noted people over the span of thousands of years and the entire globe; each person is presented with a relevant biographical treatment. Each entry is meticulously documented, citing best sources available. Connection or relation of cited sources to entries are presented. Accuracy or veracity of reputed last words is often questioned. Conflicting variations of reported last words for many entries are presented for the purpose of further research. Contains a detailed selected annotated bibliography of significant last word sources. Well indexed. The conclusion of more than a dozen years work and consultation of tens of thousands of sources, Last Words of Notable People is far and away the definitive compilation and treatment of recorded last words compiled to date. Highly recommended for libraries and reference collections.
About the Author
William B. Brahms graduated from Rutgers College in 1989 with a B.A. in Economics. At Rutgers, he garnered numerous honors and awards including the Deans Award for Excellence, College Honors, Departmental Honors, Henry Rutgers Honors, Phi Beta Kappa and election to the prestigious Cap and Skull Society. He earned an M.L.S. at Rutgers in 1993 and awarded a Rutgers SCILS Alumni Association scholarship and selected for Beta Phi Mu.He was at the Franklin Township Public Library in Somerset, NJ for 12 years. He was Head of Reference and served six years as Township Historian. He received commendations from the Franklin Township Council and a scholars award from the Marconi Foundation there for publishing two books on Franklin Township history. He also co-developed two major digital projects: an early online historical photograph database and one of the first full-text/images searchable local newspaper archives in a public library in the country. His digital project work led to a position on the advisory committee to the New Jersey Digital Highway. In 2004, he co-founded Reference Desk Press, Inc. to produce select reference book by librarians for librarians in an ecologically and economically responsible manner and to support library causes. He has written six books, including the core reference work Notable Last FactsA Compendium of Endings, Conclusions, Terminations and Final Events Throughout History (2005). He is listed in Marquiss Whos Who in the World and has been selected for Whos Who in America seven times. Brahms is Chief Librarian/Manager at the Camden County Library System in Voorhees, New Jersey. He co-developed two major initiatives for the library: Shelf Life (retail model influenced satellite branch in a mall) and The Corner a progressive teen library center. Visit www.referencedeskpress.com for contact information and to follow Reference Desk Press work through the web and social media.
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