Perspective

The authors provide little autobiographical data within the text, but a very concise biographical paragraph is included on the text's cover. Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley have both been practicing hospice nurses for more than a decade. Both have provided extensive healthcare to the terminally ill, and both have been involved in caring for patients during the actual dying process. They are also associated with numerous other healthcare professionals engaged in the same or similar pursuits, and they draw upon their associates' experiences during the narrative. Thus, they are well positioned to write authoritatively on the subject considered in the text.

Their stated rationale for offering the text is to educate the public at large about the process of dying. They offer the phrase Nearing Death Awareness to describe a psychological process whereby the dying are often aware of their dying processes on a metaphysical level. Many aspects...