Last Rites: The Evolution of the American Funeral

by Todd Harra

Overview

The Untold Story of American Funeral and Mourning Traditions

Why do we embalm the deceased? Why are funerals so expensive? Is there a reason coffins are shaped the way they are? When—and why—did we start viewing the deceased? Ceremonies for honoring the departed are crucial parts of our lives, but few people know where our traditional practices come from—and what they reveal about our history, culture, and beliefs about death. In Last Rites, author Todd Harra takes you on a fascinating exploration of American funeral practices—examining where they came from, what they mean, and how they are still evolving.

Our conventions around death, burial, and remembrance have undergone many great transitions—sometimes due to technology, respect for tradition, shifting sensibilities, or even to thwart grave robbers. Here you’ll explore:

• Influences for American rituals—from medieval Europe, the Roman Empire, and even ancient Egypt
• When mourning fell out of fashion—and how George Washington’s passing brought it back
• Abraham Lincoln’s landmark funeral and its widespread impact
• Flowers, liquor, mourning gifts, and caskets—the reasons behind our grieving customs
• Unknown soldiers—how warfare influenced funeral and bereavement practices … and vice versa
• How growing populations, religion, inventions, and media have changed and continue to shape our traditions
• The future of our death rites—mushroom suits, green burial, body donation, flameless cremation, home funerals, and more

The rich story of the American funeral is one of constant evolution. Whether you’re planning a funeral service or are simply intrigued by the meaning behind American burial practices, Last Rites is an informative and compelling exploration of the history—and future—of the ceremonies we use to say farewell to those who have departed this world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683648055
Publisher:	Sounds True, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/02/2022
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	390,686
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Todd Harra has over a decade of experience as a licensed funeral director and embalmer and is a certified postmortem reconstructionist and cremationist. He has written two nonfiction books about the profession, Mortuary Confidential and Over Our Dead Bodies, and is an associate editor for Southern Calls, a renowned journal in the funeral profession. He is the president of the Delaware State Funeral Directors Association. For more, visit toddharra.com.

Table of Contents

The Dark Arts: An Introduction 1

Chapter 1 A Seismic Shift: Lincoln and the New Sanitary Science 5

Chapter 2 The Book of the Dead 25

Chapter 3 Lethal Combat and Other Roman Obsequies 37

Chapter 4 The Bloody Barber-Surgeons: Embalming Emerges from the Dark Ages 51

Chapter 5 Mourning Gloves and Liquor: Early American Burial Practices 65

Chapter 6 Embalming Surgeons 85

Chapter 7 Gone to Their Sleep: Victorian Sensibilities 107

Chapter 8 Resurrectionists: Advent of the Burial Vault 127

Chapter 9 Vessels of the Dead: Coffins, Caskets, and the Hysteria Surrounding Grave Alarms 147

Chapter 10 The Temple of Honor: Vehicles of the Dead 169

Chapter 11 Mourning the Great War 183

Chapter 12 Flame Burial 203

Chapter 13 Mushroom Suits and the Future (of Funeral Service) 223

Acknowledgments 237

Notes 239

Index 273

About the Author 277

Editorial Reviews

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.” —Library Journal

“A treasure trove of morbid intrigue. Never has a work of nonfiction read more like a thriller novel. Leaving no gruesome detail unexplained, Last Rites is the way history books should always be written.” —Southern Calls, The Journal of the Funeral Profession

“For anyone who ever wonders why funerals are the way they are, this book weaves history and modern funeral rites in a way that compares historical norms with current funeral rituals. A must-read.” —Brian Waters, host of Undertaking: The Podcast

“To other histories of funeral customs in North America, we can add this richly researched and annotated text by Todd Harra, for whom funerals—both the idea of the things and the things themselves—are worthy of a life’s work and serious scrutiny. Humanity is never so manifest as when a human dies; what we do about mortality separates us from other species. Last Rites is for mortals and mortuary sorts, the reverend clergy, and reverential humanists. And Harra is the most reliable kind of witness: a practitioner, scholar, and storyteller.” —Thomas Lynch, author of The Depositions and Bone Rosary

From the Publisher

06/01/2022

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

Library Journal