The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels

A Talk with authors Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans

Please join the Los Angeles City Historical Society for a special webinar with acclaimed authors Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans who will discuss their new book The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels.

Based on their seven years of research, the book follows the lives, deaths and ultimately, the remains, of four Angelenos from the more than 1,500 individuals at risk of being “unclaimed,” meaning that upon their death, relatives or loved ones are unable or unwilling to bury them or to have their bodies cremated. Also included in the book are volunteers, community members and government workers dedicated to providing burials for unclaimed strangers, imparting a sense of dignity after death.

About the Book

For centuries, people who died destitute or alone were buried in potters’ fields—a Dickensian end that even the most hard-pressed families tried to avoid. Today, more and more relatives are abandoning their dead, leaving it to local governments to dispose of the bodies. Up to 150,000 Americans now go unclaimed each year. Who are they? Why are they being forgotten? And what is the meaning of life if your death doesn’t matter to others?

In this extraordinary work of narrative nonfiction, eight years in the making, sociologists Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans uncover a hidden social world. They follow four individuals in Los Angeles, tracing the twisting, poignant paths that put each at risk of going unclaimed, and introducing us to the scene investigators, notification officers, and crematorium workers who care for them when no one else will. 

The Unclaimed lays bare the difficult truth that anyone can be abandoned. It forces us to confront a variety of social ills, from the fracturing of families and the loneliness of cities to the toll of rising inequality. But it is also filled with unexpected moments of tenderness. In Boyle Heights, a Mexican American neighborhood not far from the glitter of Hollywood, hundreds of strangers come together each year to mourn the deaths of people they never knew. These ceremonies, springing up across the country, reaffirm our shared humanity and help mend our frayed social fabric.

 Beautifully crafted and profoundly empathetic, The Unclaimed urges us to expand our circle of caring—in death and in life.

About the Authors

Pamela Prickett

is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam and an acclaimed writer and former broadcaster.

Stefan Timmermans

is a professor of sociology at UCLA. He is the author of an award-winning book on forensic death investigations.

LOCATION

Webinar via Zoom

REGISTRATION

This is a free event but registration is required.

This is a free webinar, but we welcome donations if you would like to support our programs. If you are not already a LACHS member, please consider joining LACHS today. Donate and/or become a member online. Your support is very much appreciated!

If you have questions about the event, please email us at lacityhistoryevents@gmail.com.