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Hour of Our DeathRepublic of SufferingSacred Remains

 

History

The Hour of Our Death: The Classic History of Western Attitudes Toward Death Over the Last One Thousand Years – Philippe Ariès

The Corpse: A History – Christine Quigley

Death in England: An Illustrated History – Edited by Peter C Jupp & Clare Gittings

Death, Religion and the Family in England, 1480—1750 – Ralph Houlbrooke

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War  – Drew Gilpin Faust

The Sacred Remains: American Attitudes Toward Death, 1799-1883 – Gary Laderman

 

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Science & Medicine

After We Die: The Life and Times of the Human Cadaver – Norman L. Cantor

Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies? –  Kenneth V. Iserson

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers – Mary Roach

The Rethinking Mortality series at the New York Academy of Sciences, 2013-2014.

Letting Go: What Should Medicine Do When It Can’t Save Your Life? (The New Yorker)

 

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Sociology & Anthropology

Death, Mourning, and Burial: A Cross-Cultural Reader – Edited by Antonius C. G. M. Robben

Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual – Peter Metcalf and Richard Huntington

Funeral Festivals in America – Jacqueline S. Thursby

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The Funeral Industry

The American Way of Death – Jessica Mitford

Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America – Gary Laderman

The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade – Thomas Lynch

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Facing Your Mortality

The Denial of Death – Ernest Becker

Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death – Irvin D. Yalom

Talking about Death – Virginia Morris

Thinking about Death Can Make You Value Life More – Nathan Heflick

Ask a Mortician / Order of the Good Death Youtube Channel

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Green Death

Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial – Mark Harris

The Natural Death Handbook – Natural Death Centre

Grave Danger: The Emergence of the Sustainable Death Movement (GOOD Magazine)

The Greenest Things to Do With Your Body After You Die (The Atlantic)

DIY Death: Natural, At-Home Funerals And Their Boomer Appeal (WBUR)

 

Death & Youth

Carry On & A Fashionable Death (Rookie Mag) – Esme B.

Thinking About Dying Will Change Your Life (Rookie Mag) – Danielle

Children’s Books about Death (A list from National Association for the Education of Young Children)

Books to Help You Explain Death to Children (A list from Aha! Parenting)

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Death in General

The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead – David Shields

Speaking of Death: America’s New Sense of Mortality – Michael K. Bartalos

Thinking Clearly About Death – Jay F. Rosenberg

Whole Death Catalog – Harold Schechter

Handbook of Death and Dying – Edited by Clifton D. Bryant

Encyclopedia of Death: Myth, History, Philosophy, Science—The Many Aspects of Death and Dying – Beatrice Kastenbaum and Robert Kastenbaum

The Death Class: A True Story About Life – Erika Hayasaki

 

Photography

Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine, 1880-1930 – John Warner

Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America (and Sleeping Beauty II and III)     –  The Burns Archive

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Books and Articles by Order of the Good Death Members

Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius & Afterlives of the Saints: Stories from the Ends of Faith – Colin Dickey

The Morbid Anatomy Anthology – Edited by Colin Dickey and Joanna Ebenstein

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory – Caitlin Doughty

The Mummies of Mexico City (Atlas Obscura) – Elizabeth Harper

The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses & Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs  – Paul Koudounaris

Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses & Fond Farewells: A Reconsideration of the American Way of Death (Lapham’s Quarterly) – Bess Lovejoy

Stayin’ Alive (Lapham’s Quarterly) & Let’s Talk About Death, Says Medical Librarian Donating Her Corpse to Science (WHYY’s The Pulse) – Megan Rosenbloom

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