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The cover of The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains

The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains

Thomas W. Laqueur

Why do we care what happens to the bodies and names of the dead, and what has that care done for the living?

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At a glance

Author
Thomas W. Laqueur

Why read it

  • You will see how places and rituals for the dead reflect what a society believes about itself
  • You will understand why naming the dead, as with memorials, became so important in modern times
  • You will think about what we owe to the dead, and what we lose when we stop caring

Who it is for

  • Someone planning a funeral or arranging a family grave
  • A visitor to war memorials who wonders why names matter
  • A nurse or funeral worker who handles the dead

Contents

  1. Preface
  2. The Work of the Dead
  3. Introduction
  4. The Work of the Dead
  5. PART I
  6. THE DEEP TIME OF THE DEAD
  7. CHAPTER 1
  8. Do the Dead Matter?
  9. CHAPTER 2
  10. The Dead Body and the Persistence of Being
  11. CHAPTER 3
  12. The Cultural Work of the Dead
  13. PART II
  14. PLACES OF THE DEAD
  15. CHAPTER 4
  16. The Churchyard and the Old Regime
  17. The Development of the Churchyard
  18. Language
  19. Place
  20. Law
  21. The Right to Burial and the Crisis of the Old Regime
  22. Enlightenment Scandals
  23. CHAPTER 5
  24. The Cemetery and the New Regime
  25. The Danger of the Dead and the Rise of the Cemetery
  26. Genealogies of the New Regime
  27. The Age of the Cemetery
  28. Putting the Dead in Their Place: Pauper Funerals and Proper Funerals, Burials and Reburials
  29. Disrupted Bodies
  30. PART III
  31. NAMES OF THE DEAD
  32. CHAPTER 6
  33. The Names of the Dead in Deep Time
  34. Names of the Dead in Times of War
  35. Names of the Dead in Times of Peace
  36. CHAPTER 7
  37. The Rise of the Names of the Dead in Modern History
  38. CHAPTER 8
  39. The Age of Necronominalism
  40. Names over Bodies
  41. Names and the Absent but Present Body
  42. Monumental Names
  43. Names of the Vanished Dead
  44. CHAPTER 9
  45. The Names of the Great War
  46. PART IV
  47. BURNING THE DEAD
  48. CHAPTER 10
  49. Disenchantment and Cremation
  50. CHAPTER 11
  51. Ashes and History
  52. Different Enchantments
  53. Ashes in Their Place
  54. Afterword: From a History of the Dead to a History of Dying
  55. The Future

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