Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul
Stephen Jenkinson
Jul 2016 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Stephen Jenkinson
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18 hr 43 min
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A palliative care veteran’s unflinching manifesto on death, dying, and grief, and what it truly means to die well
Most of us hope for a long life and a quick death, ideally one we never see coming. Stephen Jenkinson spent decades managing palliative care programs and directing children’s grief centers, and has seen firsthand what that wish costs: in a culture that treats death as a medical failure, the dying are sedated with hope, measured by “quality of life,” and urged to fight for more time rather than living fully with the time they have.
Die Wise is not a gentle balm or an end-of-life planning checklist. It offers no quick solutions or five-step guides to death and loss. It is a provocation and an invitation: an argument that dying well is not a private preference but a moral, political, and spiritual responsibility, one we owe to those who came before us and those who will follow. Drawing on bedside stories, his own close encounters with mortality, and ancestral ways of honoring the dead, Jenkinson asks into the essential questions that most books on death and grief avoid. Inside, you’ll find:
For caregivers, death workers, the grieving, and anyone reckoning with their own mortality, Die Wise offers the chance to meet death awake, with care, awe, and responsibility.
Most of us hope for a long life and a quick death, ideally one we never see coming. Stephen Jenkinson spent decades managing palliative care programs and directing children’s grief centers, and has seen firsthand what that wish costs: in a culture that treats death as a medical failure, the dying are sedated with hope, measured by “quality of life,” and urged to fight for more time rather than living fully with the time they have.
Die Wise is not a gentle balm or an end-of-life planning checklist. It offers no quick solutions or five-step guides to death and loss. It is a provocation and an invitation: an argument that dying well is not a private preference but a moral, political, and spiritual responsibility, one we owe to those who came before us and those who will follow. Drawing on bedside stories, his own close encounters with mortality, and ancestral ways of honoring the dead, Jenkinson asks into the essential questions that most books on death and grief avoid. Inside, you’ll find:
- A searching critique of how modern medicine manages death instead of making room for it
- A hard look at hope, “quality of life,” and the push for assisted dying as symptoms of a death-phobic culture
- Grief reframed as a vital skill and a way of loving, not a problem to be fixed
- Why hiding death from children, families, and ourselves leaves us uninitiated and unmoored
For caregivers, death workers, the grieving, and anyone reckoning with their own mortality, Die Wise offers the chance to meet death awake, with care, awe, and responsibility.
A palliative care veteran’s unflinching manifesto on death, dying, and grief, and what it truly means to die well
Most of us hope for a long life and a quick death, ideally one we never see coming. Stephen Jenkinson spent decades managing palliative care programs and directing children’s grief c...
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Ratings and reviews
3 reviews
Andrew Powell
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July 28, 2025
This is a must-read for every person living in a culture without earth based traditions.
Lu Ma
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January 14, 2023
Cups filled in celebration. Thank you
About the author
STEPHEN JENKINSON MTS MSW is an activist, teacher, author, and farmer. He has a master's degree in theology from Harvard University and a master's degree in social work from the University of Toronto. Formerly a program director at a major Canadian hospital and medical-school assistant professor, Stephen is now a sought-after workshop leader, speaker, and consultant to palliative care and hospice organizations. He is the founder of The Orphan Wisdom School in Canada and the subject of the documentary film Griefwalker.
STEPHEN JENKINSON MTS MSW is an activist, teacher, author, and farmer. He has a master's degree in theology from Harvard University and a master's degree in social work from the University of Toronto. Formerly a program director at a major Canadian hospital and medical-school assistant professor,...
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