Literature in death, dying and bereavement viewed from the basic text

The basic text books in Death and Dying make numerous references to the literature. A sample of five such texts disclosed that each covers similar topics, but with noted exceptions, they use references that are unique to each text. The authors' areas of special interest are indicated in these texts by the frequency of references cited within those topics of special interest. An operational definition of what is a "classic" reference to the field is offered by tallying those reference cited by all text authors.