Resource Tag: BIOGRAPHY

This article chronicles the life of Lewis Puller from birth (1945) to suicide by a gunshot to his head in 1994. It describes his childhood as the son of a famous USA marine, brief involvement in the Vietnam war which destroyed both legs & damaged both hands, his views on the war, his depression, an […]

This article profiles the childhood of Clare Boothe Luce, her relationships, marriages, & accomplishments as a mangaing editor, congresswoman, playwright, USA Ambassador, & patron of the arts. She died of natural causes at the age of 84. During her marriage to Henry Luce, founder of the “Time,” Clare made at least three suicide attempts, each […]

This article traces the childhood & education of Joseph Goebbels (born in 1897), development of his patriotic fervor, his career, & association with Hitler as his Minister for propaganda. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945 during the battle for Berlin. While Joseph & his wife may have used cyanide to kill themselves, details are […]

Broughton was born in 1883 (family seat in Cheshire on 34,000 acres) & committed suicide in Liverpool having taken 14 injections of Medinal. This article outlines Broughton’s early years, relationships, emigration to Kenya, trial & acquittal for the murder of the lover of his second wife (who was 30 years younger than he), growing depression, […]

Both fighters profiled in this article were famous & ended their lives in an act of firearm homicide/suicide. Billy Papke (1886-1936), born in Illinois, retired from boxing in 1919. Shortly after his wife divorced him & sought protection from Billy, he shot her & then himself. Randy Turpin (1928-1966), a black immigrant from Guyana to […]

Hansen (1936-1991) was academically gifted as a young man (Yale, Oxford, Princeton). “Life” magazine profiled him as an emerging leader. He committed suicide using car exhaust. A suicide note written months earlier mentioned his intent should the pain in his back become unbearable. This article is based on book written by a friend as a […]

High-fashion model Wallis Franken Montana committed suicide in May 1996. This article investigates Montana’s relationship with her husband, designer Claude Montana. Friends & family believe that the abuse Wallis Montana suffered at the hands of her husband played a role in her death.

This edition of “The Pavese Society” contains a biography of Castlereagh, a critique of philosophical views on Socrates’ suicide & a discussion of the sexual politics of double suicides.

This issue of “The Pavese Society” includes the biographies of: 1) Gerard de Nerval, a 19th-century French writer; 2) Lewis Puller, an American war veteran & lawyer; & 3) Clare Booth Luce, an American writer. Luce died of natural causes at age 84 but had made at least three suicide attempts during her life.

This review describes the book as an inspiring psychobiographic study of a man who by his own words, challenges his readers to understand his own fear of disclosure. Knox’s psychoanalytic rendering of Oscar Wilde is seen as a creative & original approach to Wilde’s biography that informs the reader of the relationship between personality & […]

Damore says that “the book is well organized & well researched”. Part 1 takes the reader through the life of Carlson’s son, Ben. Part 2 discusses the various forms of depression, the treatments available for each, & suicide bereavement. The book has some weaknesses, e.g., little mention of the role of family systems & dynamics […]

This article is the author’s reflections on her physician-husband’s suicide 10 years earlier. In the months prior to his death, her husband had been suffering from a work-related depression stemming from a wrongful death lawsuit. Bauman cites examples for which altered care may have changed her husband’s choice. Issues of self-worth & emotional support from […]

A family therapist’s youngest brother, Tim, committed suicide years before. She kept the suicide a secret because she worried others would think she was from a bad family. The bad family theory has little weight as Tim had been successful & the remaining siblings have all been successful. Feelings of shame over a family member’s […]

Public opinion polls show that a growing majority support euthanasia. Medical workers think that active euthanasia should remain illegal despite supporting withdrawal of treatment at a patient’s request. There is potential for corruption with euthanasia. A high proportion of caregivers for the terminally ill are worried about an erosion of patient trust should euthanasia become […]

Ross Lockridge, Jr. committed suicide in 1948, 2 months after the publication of his best-selling novel, Raintree County. In this article, his son describes the psychology of survivorship as well as the convergence of factors that led to his father’s suicide – personality disorder (narcissistic), biological (possibly genetic) predisposition to depression & cultural factors related […]

This is a brief biography of Charlotte Gilman, a leading feminist of the late 19th and early 20th century. She committed suicide in old age when dying of cancer.

This biography describes the life of Friedrich List, born in 1789 in Germany. List was a visionary, foreseeing future national goals, e.g. economic unification, national railroads, but he could not persuade the government to implement his ideas. In 1846, List killed himself – his physical health was declining, his depression was getting worse & his […]

The life of Abbie Hoffman, an American activist, is described in this biography. Hoffman was very involved in a number of political & social movements, e.g. he was a member of the Chicago Seven, a group indicted for “crimes” during the 1968 Democratic convention. In February 1989, in pain from injuries suffered in a car […]

This issue of “The Pavese Society” Newsletter contains biographies of Ulrike Meinhof, Charlotte Gilman, Friedrich List and Abbie Hoffman.

This article was presented at a 1993 conference: “Rehabilitation of Children, Youth & Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities: Achieving Valued Roles.” It is a retrospective by the author, herself labelled a schizophrenic at age 17. She describes the danger in labelling a person as an illness, & words & actions by others that assist the recovery […]

Arthur Inman completed suicide at the age of 68. He left 200 boxes of his typed diary to the Harvard Library; these were subsequently edited into a 2-volume work by Daniel Aaron. In this opening chapter of the book, “Treatment of Suicidal People”, Dr. Shneidman reflects upon the value of the Inman diary to suicidologists […]

This story relates the events leading to a suicide attempt by Kenny Wilcoxen, a high school gym teacher & football referee.

The author, paralyzed by polio at the age of 2, relates her life story & her experiences with suicide beginning with her first attempt when she was 16. She wonders whether she would still be alive if Kevorkian or Humphrey had been advocating assisted suicide or self-deliverance when she first attempted. She states that the […]