Mobituaries : great lives worth reliving

Summary: "Newspaper obituaries commemorate remarkable lives: leaders, captains of industry, inventors, artists, and entertainers. But what about the remarkable lives we forgot to remember? That's the question that drives journalist, humorist, and history buff Mo Rocca in Mobituaries, the book companion to the CBS podcast of the same name. In these pages, Rocca chronicles the stories of men and women who made a difference, but whose lives-for some reason or another-were never truly examined. Like Aaron Burr, who is infamous for slaying Alexander Hamilton in a duel, but who continued scheming until the end of his life (and was even tried for treason). Or Farrah Fawcett, who died the same day as Michael Jackson, and whose accomplishments became less important news. And what about the siblings of presidents, like Billy Carter, Donald Nixon, and Sam Houston Johnson, whose lives were overshadowed by their brothers? As a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and the host of The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation on CBS, Rocca is an expert researcher and storyteller. He draws on these skills here. With his rigorous reporting and trademark wit, Rocca brings these men and women, splendidly back to life like no one else can. The result is an insightful and unconventional account of the people who made life worth living for the rest of us, one that asks us to think about who gets remembered, and how, and why"--