Review by Choice Review
This close and detailed (if also good-humored) survey of death in the 20th-century US work joins a growing body of scholarship (including Stephen Prothero's wonderful Purified by Fire, CH, Jun'01) that takes death (and its attendant mourning rituals) seriously as a subject of cultural studies. Laderman (religion, Emory Univ.) has two agendas. First, he studies rather than merely eviscerates (as Jessica Mitford famously did in her 1963 book The American Way of Death) the evolution of funeral homes from the Civil War to the present, persuasively concluding that "funeral directors managed to insinuate themselves into the fabric of everyday American life ... because most Americans wanted the services they offered." Secondly, Laderman surveys how death has been treated in US culture, ranging widely from the world wars through public mournings and the funerals of JFK and Elvis, to Jessica Mitford's own elaborate if individualized death ceremony, and finally through the funeral home's somewhat begrudging response to deaths from AIDS (and with a short postscript on 9/11, no doubt demanded by the publisher). Overall, an engaging, first-class work of scholarship that should rest Jessica Mitford in peace. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All libraries. P. Harvey University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
In this sequel to his 1996 study of nineteenth-century attitudes toward death (Sacred Remains), Laderman sharply disputes the thesis of Jessica Mitford's influential 1963 expose, The American Way of Death. The funeral directors that Mitford depicted as unscrupulous profiteers are portrayed by Laderman as conscientious professionals. The funeral embalming that Mitford deplored as a costly scam, Laderman represents as crucial to making possible the ceremonial viewing of the deceased that many Americans regard as deeply meaningful. Along the way, he provides fascinating details about how modern morticians have handled deaths in the limelight (JFK) and about how funeral directors have changed their methods in response to muckraking accusations (including Mitford's) and to shifting cultural attitudes toward death. He also traces some especially pronounced changes in the cultural context for the newly restyled death-care industry in the last couple of decades: more demand for cremation rather than burial (reflecting both an influx of Asian immigrants and a decline of traditional orthodoxies), and more privately scripted memorial services. Laderman piquantly illustrates these recent trends by recounting the highly unconventional funeral of--it had to be--Jessica Mitford. Bryce Christensen
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In 1963, Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death shocked the nation and provoked scandal throughout the funeral industry. Mitford portrayed undertakers as exploitative businessmen eager to turn a profit off of a poor man's grief. Her book climbed the bestseller list and put the growing and profitable funeral industry on the defensive. Forty years later, Laderman comes to the industry's defense with this thoughtful book. His case is cautious and honest. He presents the industry's history from its inception during the Civil War period up to the present. The author explores American attitudes toward death through various lenses, including cultural, religious and psychological history, which demonstrate a pervasive fascination with death and a desire to share an intimate moment with the dead as a part of the grieving process. Cultural examples of this include the wave of public grief at the sudden death of movie icon Rudolph Valentino and Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winning play Our Town. In the last chapter, Laderman discusses current and future challenges facing the industry-such as a desire for cremation and "the rise of death-care giants"-and the industry's successful attempt to deal with them. Laderman, a professor of American religious history and culture at Emory University, provides convincing evidence that the industry is a necessary and compassionate force in American life. While critics like Mitford paint a picture of greed, this account offers a more nuanced image: an industry that provides a "meaningful and material order out of the chaos of death." Illus. not seen by PW. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In 1963, two events profoundly affected the American funeral business: the publication of Jessica Mitford's expos, The American Way of Death, and the Kennedy assassination. Laderman (Emory Univ.; The Sacred Remains: American Attitudes Toward Death, 1799-1983) uses these and many other topics to explore the world of death specialists, the development of their profession in post-Civil War America, and the profession's role in American culture. A prolog and introduction preview the subject and state philosophy and goals. The topics covered in subsequent chapters include embalming, the repatriation of wartime remains, the rise of corporate facilities, the AIDS epidemic, and cultural representations such as The Night of the Living Dead and Six Feet Under. A brief epilog explores the impact of 9/11. Laderman's respect, even affection, for the profession is clearly evident, but he maintains objectivity throughout. Especially impressive is his treatment of Mitford, whose accusations he challenges politely but thoroughly. Although a bibliography, in addition to the extensive endnotes, would have been helpful, such a scholarly yet accessible survey of a difficult subject should, along with Mitford's book (updated in 2000 as The American Way of Death Revisited), be found in every library.-M.C. Duhig, Lib. Ctr. of Point Park Coll. & Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Laderman continues where he left off in The Sacred Remains (not reviewed), extending that study of "American attitudes toward death" into the 20th century. The author immediately challenges Jessica Mitford's 1963 indictment of the funeral industry, The American Way of Death, claiming that it overlooks cultural, religious, emotional, and psychological dimensions of disposal of the dead. Funeral directors are well-respected, Laderman (American Religious History and Culture/Emory Univ.) asserts, and their services are highly valued. He selects three cultural phenomena from the first half of the century--Rudolph Valentino's funeral, Thornton Wilder's play Our Town, and Walt Disney's early animated films--to demonstrate what he terms an American fascination with death. (For those fascinated by celebrity funerals or curious about the respective merits of open and closed caskets, he also provides information about the preparation of President Kennedy's corpse.) By embalming, dressing, and presenting a corpse in a setting away from home, he argues, funeral directors have enabled their clientele to say goodbye to the dead in a sanitary and religiously sanctified way. Quoting liberally from the trade literature of the funeral industry, Laderman chronicles its reaction to Mitford's book in the 1960s and '70s, to the FTC's consumer protection measures of the '80s, and to the emergence of huge death-care conglomerates in the '80s and '90s. He reveals how the AIDS epidemic affected funeral-home procedures and how the industry has responded to the growing death-awareness movement and increased demand for cremation in the US. What hasn't changed, according to Laderman, is funeral directors' desire to maintain control of the dead from last breath to final disposition, however that may be carried out. A largely favorable portrait of a much-maligned industry sure to please most funeral directors, especially those running small-town, family-owned businesses. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
