Michael Largo

As a son of New York Police Department homicide and narcotics detective, Michael Largo had an unusual insider look at how people died from an early age. A noted expert on the American way of dying, he is the author of The Portable Obituary: How The Famous, Rich and Powerful Really Died (HarperCollins) and the previously acclaimed book Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die —winner of the 2006 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction. His latest book is God's Lunatics: Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man's Eternal Search for the Divine (Harper Paperbacks). He has been featured in Playboy, Maxim, and Entertainment Weekly.

Largo engages audiences withwit, a wry humor, and an encyclopedic knowledge on one of life’s most fascinating subjects, such as:

    How small choices you make everyday affect your productivity at work, and ultimately the years you have to pursue your career. By citing incidents of bizarre deaths in the workplace, in addition to hidden risks in the office, everything from Sick Building Syndrome, Latex Sensitivity, to Liquid-Eraser Disorder it’s clear that making small changes improve productivity and prevent premature death.

    The history of labor practices in the construction industry from Roman times through the Industrial Revolution. Current industry safety laws, why they were established, and how to get employees to comply, citing bizarre examples of accidents and fatalities made poignant by using unforgettable and humorous anecdotes.

    The history of labor practices and extermination techniques in the pest control industry from Roman times through the Industrial Revolution. Current industry safety laws, why they were established, and how to get employees to comply, citing bizarre examples of accidents and fatalities made poignant by using unforgettable and humorous anecdotes.

    The history of death certificates, burial customs and recording of death from ancient times through the present. How to make searching for the genealogical records of your ancestors easier.

    How certain nursery rhymes were the first public safety announcements to make kids safer. Class participation on what rhyme was trying to teach. How bad habits are dangerous, citing gross examples of things kids did that turned out deadly, from nibbling on hair (giant hairball), using straws to listen through doors, jump ropes, monkey bars, and food fights, helping to make children more observant of their surroundings, and ultimately safer.

    A brief history of the most bizarre burial practices from around the world from ancient times to the present. A discussion of the 3,000 ways people currently die and why it increased from only 100 known causes listed in the 1700s.

In similar fashion, Largo tackles the fascinating topics of religion in God's Lunatics as he chronicles the lives of celebrated mystics, martyrs, wizards, shamans, and participants in famous demonic possessions, cult leaders, the founding fathers of working experiments in Utopias, and originators of New Age movements who dedicated their lives to seek answers and explain the unknown secrets of the universe to the rest of us.

Largo is a member of The Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and Horror Writers of America. He resides in Georgia.

Death in America: A Journey from Colonial Times to the Present

The Celebrity Culture & Death

The Greatest Exits: The Endlessly Fascinating Ways People Find to Die

Finding Relations: How to Search Records to Rediscover Your Ancestors

Dying to Work: How to Make Any Business Safer

Small Things, Big Risk: How Common Lifestyle Choices Affect Longevity

Fatal Attraction: How People Attract Longevity or Mortality