SKU: 10937330580

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

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The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal RemainsThe meaning of our concern for mortal remains from antiquity through the twentieth century The Greek philosopher Diogenes said that when he died his body should be tossed over the city walls for beasts to scavenge. Why should he or anyone else care what became of his corpse? In The Work of the Dead, acclaimed cultural historian Thomas Laqueur examines why humanity has universally rejected Diogenes's argument. No culture has been indifferent to mortal

The meaning of our concern for mortal remains--from antiquity through the twentieth century

The Greek philosopher Diogenes said that when he died his body should be tossed over the city walls for beasts to scavenge. Why should he or anyone else care what became of his corpse? In The Work of the Dead, acclaimed cultural historian Thomas Laqueur examines why humanity has universally rejected Diogenes's argument. No culture has been indifferent to mortal remains. Even in our supposedly disenchanted scientific age, the dead body still matters--for individuals, communities, and nations. A remarkably ambitious history, The Work of the Dead offers a compelling and richly detailed account of how and why the living have cared for the dead, from antiquity to the twentieth century.

The book draws on a vast range of sources--from mortuary archaeology, medical tracts, letters, songs, poems, and novels to painting and landscapes in order to recover the work that the dead do for the living: making human communities that connect the past and the future. Laqueur shows how the churchyard became the dominant resting place of the dead during the Middle Ages and why the cemetery largely supplanted it during the modern period. He traces how and why since the nineteenth century we have come to gather the names of the dead on great lists and memorials and why being buried without a name has become so disturbing. And finally, he tells how modern cremation, begun as a fantasy of stripping death of its history, ultimately failed--and how even the ashes of the victims of the Holocaust have been preserved in culture.

A fascinating chronicle of how we shape the dead and are in turn shaped by them, this is a landmark work of cultural history.-- "Library Journal"

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 05/08/2018
ISBN: 9780691180939
Pages: 744
Weight: 2.00lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 2.20d
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SKU: 10937330580

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Comfortable shoes for someone with wider feet and challenges finding comfortable dress loafers! Good price for the quality and comfort! Have two pairs
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The shoes were as advertised. Marc Joseph (I hav 4 other pairs) are the perfect shoes for me with my physical needs. Additionally they are exceptionally comfortable and attractive. This pair I returned because they weren’t quite the right fit for me. They are, like my other Marc Joseph shoes, very well made and very attractive.
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Patrick
Belleville, US
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Ok in a pinch. Can get better shoes for the price. Wide aren’t wide
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These were ok comfortable. Would have preferred at the price point to be a little more comfortable. For being a wide size, the shoe was rather tight on my feet. Quality is ok. It passed for the wedding. Would probably have taken more time to pick something different if I had the ability to. This was a last minute purchase.
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Damone A. Thomas
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Very comfortable, very stylish, and in my price range gives me exactly what I was looking for in a shoe. Definitely a quality shoe. I’m 6’4, 309 lbs and size 13 shoe.
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