Is the Cemetery Dead?

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Religion & Spirituality
Cover of the book Is the Cemetery Dead? by David Charles Sloane, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Charles Sloane ISBN: 9780226539584
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: April 25, 2018
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: David Charles Sloane
ISBN: 9780226539584
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: April 25, 2018
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

In modern society, we have professionalized our care for the dying and deceased in hospitals and hospices, churches and funeral homes, cemeteries and mausoleums to aid dazed and disoriented mourners. But these formal institutions can be alienating and cold, leaving people craving a more humane mourning and burial process. The burial treatment itself has come to be seen as wasteful and harmful—marked by chemicals, plush caskets, and manicured greens. Today’s bereaved are therefore increasingly turning away from the old ways of death and searching for a more personalized, environmentally responsible, and ethical means of grief.

Is the Cemetery Dead? gets to the heart of the tragedy of death, chronicling how Americans are inventing new or adapting old traditions, burial places, and memorials. In illustrative prose, David Charles Sloane shows how people are taking control of their grief by bringing their relatives home to die, interring them in natural burial grounds, mourning them online, or memorializing them streetside with a shrine, ghost bike, or RIP mural. Today’s mourners are increasingly breaking free of conventions to better embrace the person they want to remember. As Sloane shows, these changes threaten the future of the cemetery, causing cemeteries to seek to become more responsive institutions.

A trained historian, Sloane is also descendent from multiple generations of cemetery managers and he grew up in Syracuse’s Oakwood Cemetery. Enriched by these experiences, as well as his personal struggles with overwhelming grief, Sloane presents a remarkable and accessible tour of our new American way of death.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In modern society, we have professionalized our care for the dying and deceased in hospitals and hospices, churches and funeral homes, cemeteries and mausoleums to aid dazed and disoriented mourners. But these formal institutions can be alienating and cold, leaving people craving a more humane mourning and burial process. The burial treatment itself has come to be seen as wasteful and harmful—marked by chemicals, plush caskets, and manicured greens. Today’s bereaved are therefore increasingly turning away from the old ways of death and searching for a more personalized, environmentally responsible, and ethical means of grief.

Is the Cemetery Dead? gets to the heart of the tragedy of death, chronicling how Americans are inventing new or adapting old traditions, burial places, and memorials. In illustrative prose, David Charles Sloane shows how people are taking control of their grief by bringing their relatives home to die, interring them in natural burial grounds, mourning them online, or memorializing them streetside with a shrine, ghost bike, or RIP mural. Today’s mourners are increasingly breaking free of conventions to better embrace the person they want to remember. As Sloane shows, these changes threaten the future of the cemetery, causing cemeteries to seek to become more responsive institutions.

A trained historian, Sloane is also descendent from multiple generations of cemetery managers and he grew up in Syracuse’s Oakwood Cemetery. Enriched by these experiences, as well as his personal struggles with overwhelming grief, Sloane presents a remarkable and accessible tour of our new American way of death.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Hidden Hitchcock by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book Big Bosses by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book Atlas, or the Anxious Gay Science by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book The Acceptance World by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book Orchid by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book American Capitals by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book History of Religious Ideas, Volume 1 by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book England's Great Transformation by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book 57 Ways to Screw Up in Grad School by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book But Can I Start a Sentence with "But"? by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book The Book of Fungi by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book The Pontecorvo Affair by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book A Significant Life by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book Inheritance of Loss by David Charles Sloane
Cover of the book Senses of Style by David Charles Sloane
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy