Douglas Coupland takes his literary talent in a new direction with this collection of takes on life and death in North America - from his sweeping portrait of Grateful Dead culture to the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain and the middle class.Coupland has assembled a wide variety of stories and personal "postcards" about the pivotal people and places that have defined our modern lives. Polaroids from the Dead is a skillful combination of stories, fact and fiction - keen outtakes on life in the late twentieth century, exploring the recent past and a society obsessed with celebrity, crime and death. Princess Diana, Nicole Brown Simpson and Madonna are but some of the people scrutinized herein.By turns hugely funny, savagely ironic and poignantly searching, this collection has appeal for everyone cognizant of the first half of this decade and looking for navigation in the second. Read Less