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a cultural history of death and the funeral home in twentieth-century America
1 online resource (xlii, 245 pages) : illustrations
Gary Laderman traces the origins of American funeral rituals, & looks at the increasing subordination of religious figures to the funeral director in the late 20th century, demonstrating that the modern director is very far from Mitford's manipulator of 'The American Way of Death'.
"In Rest in Peace, Gary Laderman traces the origins of American funeral rituals, from the evolution of embalming techniques during and after the Civil War and the shift from home funerals to funeral homes at the turn of the century to the increasing subordination of priests, ministers, and other religious figures to the funeral director throughout the twentieth century. In doing so he shows that far from manipulating vulnerable mourners, as Jessica Mitford claimed in her best-selling The American Way of Death (1963), funeral directors are highly respected figures whose services reflect the community's deepest needs and wishes. Indeed, Laderman shows that funeral directors generally give the people what they want when it is time to bury our dead. He reveals, for example, that the open casket, often criticized as barbaric, provides a deeply meaningful moment for friends and family who must say goodbye to their loved one. But he also shows how the dead often come back to life in the popular imagination to disturb the peace of the living."--Jacket of print edition
Introduction : 1963 -- 1. From house calls to funeral homes : changing relations between the living and the dead -- 2. Explaining the American funeral, 1918-1963 -- 3. Good grief! Jessica Mitford makes The New York times bestseller list -- 4. Keeping the dead in place : old and new patterns of consumption -- 5. Final frontiers : into the twenty-first century -- Epilogue : 9/11.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-236) and index.
Environmental Science (see also Chemistry
New York : Oxford University Press, 2003