All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work

by Hayley Campbell Narrated by Hayley Campbell

Overview

"Journalist Hayley Campbell explores the often hidden world of those who work closely with death, finding compassion in unexpected settings. Campbell's British accent and matter-of-fact delivery take the listener on a tour of mortuaries, postmortem experimentation, death-mask artistry, crime-scene cleaning, and executions, among others. Her morbid fascination is evident in her tone as she sheds light on curiosities surrounding a subject that is foreign to many people. Ultimately, Campbell calls for a closer relationship to death, less mystery surrounding this universal passage, and a reduction of fear through greater understanding."- AudioFile on All the Living and the Dead

"Campbell is a probing investigator whose tone is always even, quietly emphasizing that death is the most natural thing in the world."- Bookpage

This audiobook is read by the author.

A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the people-morticians, detectives, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, executioners-who work in it and what led them there.

We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we're so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look?

Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

Through Campbell's incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every day, she asks: Why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden? A dazzling work of cultural criticism, All the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoir, history, and philosophy, to offer listeners a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

Editorial Reviews

SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Journalist Hayley Campbell explores the often hidden world of those who work closely with death, visiting their workplaces and finding small displays of compassion in some unexpected settings. In this author-narrated work, Campbell's British accent and matter-of-fact delivery take the listener on a tour of mortuaries, postmortem experimentation, death-mask artistry, crime-scene cleaning, executions, embalming, emergency management and recovery, and cryogenics, among other topics. Campbell's morbid fascination is evident in her tone as she sheds light on curiosities surrounding a subject that is foreign to many people, and she spares no details—no matter how messy or disquieting. Ultimately, Campbell calls for a closer relationship to death, less mystery surrounding this universal passage, and a reduction of fear through greater understanding. S.E.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

05/23/2022

Journalist Campbell (The Art of Neil Gaiman) delivers a gripping look at professionals who deal with the end of life and their efforts to give people “dignity in death.” Although more than 55 million people die around the world every year, Campbell points out, the mechanics of disposing of dead bodies remain mysterious. The book’s colorful cast includes Nick Reynolds, son of the mastermind behind the 1963 heist known as the “Great Train Robbery” and the last maker of death masks in the U.K. Campbell also profiles Neal Smither, a “California stoner” turned crime scene cleaner; assists a funeral director in dressing a body; and delves into the history of autopsies and the contributions they’ve made to medical advances. She notes that the practice of donating one’s body to science dates to 1832 and explains how today’s medical students train on virtual autopsy tables. Campbell also attends the Mayo Clinic’s annual Convocation of Thanks for people who donated their bodies for anatomical study and visits a “white-label” company that helps other companies deal with mass fatalities. Though the morbid details won’t be for everyone, Campbell is a sharp and witty observer who successfully conveys her own fascination with the subject. This is a vivid and open-minded look at a taboo topic. (Aug.)

From the Publisher

"Campbell is a gorgeous writer, capturing the exquisite pathos and gallows humor found in folks who spend their lives working with the dead. Anyone who has ever considered death work will devour this book." —Caitlin Doughty, New York Times bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

“How should we live, when death is always with us? All the Living and the Dead is a book about death, and how to stop pretending about it. Hayley Campbell is working out a philosophy of death by getting close to it; holding it; asking interesting questions of people who spend their lives dealing with it. This is an essential, compassionate, honest examination of how we deal with death, and how it changes the living.” —Audrey Niffenegger, New York Times bestselling author of The Time Traveler's Wife

“This book is moving, funny, and liable to unexpectedly cause me to tear up. It's about the head and the heart of death, about who we are, and is filled with images and moments that will remain in my head until the end. A gentle book and, like death itself, an unexpectedly kind one.” —Neil Gaiman, New York Times bestselling author of Good Omens and Coraline

"Ms. Campbell’s book is more than a written narrative, it is a map across uneven and untraveled land. It’s [Campbell's] raw, unguarded honesty that takes her book beyond many others of similar subject. At times humorous and always informative, humanity sets All the Living and the Dead apart." —Wall Street Journal

"Campbell describes the mechanics of these jobs in comprehensive detail and with a measured levity that keeps the dour stench of death from overwhelming the pages . . . Her thesis holds true as rising death tolls fade into normalcy and the living forge on with a new numbness: 'Death is everywhere, but it’s veiled, or it’s fiction.'" —The New York Times

"Going beyond the gravedigger and the embalmer, [Campbell] approaches her subjects with kindness and humor, highlighting an industry that will always be in demand. Reading this book because the hidden world of death workers is fascinating is reason enough, but one may find in reading it . . . that attending to death deepens one’s understanding of its mystery and, by extension, the mystery of life." —Los Angeles Review of Books

"Hayley Campbell is one of Death World's most important voices. Her compassion for the living and the dead stands out . . . All the Living and the Dead is an extremely important book for anyone interested in what happens to a person after they die. Everyone should read it in order to appreciate the respect all the invisible workers tasked with handling the dead demonstrate everyday and which the text captures so well." —Dr. John Troyer, Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath

"An intriguing, candid, and frequently poignant book that asks what the business of death can teach all of us in the midst of life. Readers will form a connection with Campbell's voice as intimate as her own relationship with mortality." —Lindsey Fitzharris, bestselling author of The Butchering Art

"A compassionate and compelling book. Fascinating and devastating in equal measure." —Charlie Gilmour, author of Featherhood

"Provocative, loving, and profound." —Helen Rumbelow, The Times

"Gripping . . . Campbell is a sharp and witty observer who successfully conveys her own fascination with the subject. A vivid and open-minded look at a taboo topic." —Publishers Weekly

"A careful, moving investigation of existential matters told with a keen literary sense and memorable personal insights . . . a remarkable book." —Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Campbell's genuine curiosity, careful reporting, and insightful commentary make for an engrossing read. Readers will appreciate both her meticulous reporting and her marked compassion." —Booklist (starred)

"All the Living and the Dead shines a light on those with a tenderness for death, and Campbell is an equally entertaining and sensitive guide to these interesting people and their grisly but indispensable jobs." —Bookpage (starred)

“Campbell’s immersion in death is free of trauma . . . startling and affecting, candid, compassionate." —London Review of Books

"Campbell weaves judicious reflections on the philosophy and history of the death industry into the reportage . . . Never macabre . . . poignant, transformative." —Financial Times

"Eye-opening . . . A book about corpses might seem like a downer. But All the Living and the Dead is surprisingly cheerful, even life-affirming. This is partly thanks to Campbell's open-hearted, observant style of writing, which manages to be vivid without sensationalizing the horrors she records." —Times Literary Supplement

SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Journalist Hayley Campbell explores the often hidden world of those who work closely with death, visiting their workplaces and finding small displays of compassion in some unexpected settings. In this author-narrated work, Campbell's British accent and matter-of-fact delivery take the listener on a tour of mortuaries, postmortem experimentation, death-mask artistry, crime-scene cleaning, executions, embalming, emergency management and recovery, and cryogenics, among other topics. Campbell's morbid fascination is evident in her tone as she sheds light on curiosities surrounding a subject that is foreign to many people, and she spares no details—no matter how messy or disquieting. Ultimately, Campbell calls for a closer relationship to death, less mystery surrounding this universal passage, and a reduction of fear through greater understanding. S.E.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2022-05-24
A wide-ranging book about the business of death.

Campbell has been fascinated by death since she watched her father, acclaimed comic book artist Eddie Campbell, create illustrations for Alan Moore’s From Hell. In her debut, Campbell works her way through the machinery of the death industry, interviewing morticians, embalmers, crime scene cleaners, executioners, and others. Clearly unafraid of getting her hands dirty, she chronicles how she held a brain during an autopsy and learned to dig a perfect hole from two cheery gravediggers. At a crematorium, she finds that “cancer is the last thing to burn.” This sounds bizarre and even a little ghoulish, but the author’s quest reveals a wealth of surprising grace and impressive courage. Most of the people she interviewed and shadowed are content in their roles, viewing their work as inherently important. “They are trying to do what they believe is right,” she writes. “They cannot reverse the situation and make people live again, but they can change how it is dealt with and give them dignity in death.” There are many touching moments and characters—e.g., a funeral home director who, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, would secretly allow lovers and friends into the mortuary to say their goodbyes. Campbell’s encounter with a bereavement midwife, who specializes in stillbirths and deliveries of babies who will soon pass away, is strikingly poignant, as is the author’s admission that she will be haunted by the image of a dead child. Some of her interviewees understand what she means, noting that the atmosphere of death can leak into your soul. Nevertheless, the author concluded her journey with a greater understanding of life and death. She suggests that we should be willing to be more involved in the passage of loved ones, both for our own closure and as a recognition of the importance of life—sound advice in a remarkable book.

A careful, moving investigation of existential matters told with a keen literary sense and memorable personal insights.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176379709
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	08/16/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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