Last rites The evolution of the American funeral

Death and all its arrangements may not be the breeziest topic to spend a few hundred pages with, but Harra, himself a funeral director, manages an enlightening and passionate history of how we have come to bury and honor our departed. Each chapter here focuses on a specific era, ranging from ancient Egypt and Rome through Victorian England before moving stateside. Harra delineates how many facets of the modern American funeral traditions have come to be. He even touches on issues like the fear of premature burial, a somewhat common concern across history, which ultimately led to the practice of open-casket funeral viewings where mourners could literally confirm death. The book includes many other surprising anecdotes, from the issue of grave-robbing doctors always in need of test cadavers to Lincoln's introduction of embalming to the masses. A unique historical survey that shows even death is not immune to change.

For readers with a taste for the quirky or the macabre, Harra, a writer and funeral professional, explores the hows and whys of American funerals, including changing influences from religion, war, high-profile deaths, the ancient world, and more. Rather than presenting these evolutions linearly, each chapter is dedicated to a topic, such as burial vaults and embalming, and relevantly bounces around time periods. This allows the casual reader to enjoy each chapter independently. There's plenty of trivia to be had along the way, including why it's called a living room, the difference between a casket and a coffin, and just why would someone want to put a live grenade in a grave? A chapter on newer funerary trends and thorough notes add to the work's usefulness, though it does lack a bibliography for further reading. VERDICT This is a swell companion piece for fans of Mary Roach's Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, but libraries should also consider it a source of serious information for those who may be facing difficult end-of-life decisions.--Jack Phoenix