Customer Reviews

Epitaphs To Remember: Remarkable Inscriptions from New England Gravestones

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This little book traces the development of the gravestone epitaph, from the earliest days of America's settlement, to the 20th century. Some are amusing, some a bit scary, some give lessons to the reader. The author explains why certain themes were chosen and how they reflect the times in which the stones were made. Fun and fascinating.

My dad had knee surgery recently, and we were joking that his epitaph would have to include the fact that he now has a part from a cadaver. I wanted to get him a book of FUNNY epitaphs, and this one is full of the overblown poetry about the nature of death. Which is fine, if that's what you're looking for, but I wanted something different.

I recommend this collection of epitaphs because they give a fascinating insight into the lives and deaths of past New Englanders. However, on page one of the author's commentary, I was stunned to see her erroneous statement that Benjamin Franklin was a Quaker!

Benjamin Franklin was not a Quaker. He was baptized in 1706, at the Old South Church congregation's Cedar Meeting House on downtown Washington Street, Boston. In Philadelphia he occasionally worshiped at Christ Church, the Church of England parish established in colonial Philadelphia in 1695 and later reorganized into the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Because of this factual error, I found it difficult to trust the accuracy of the commentary and hence, the author's analysis. But, her collection is most excellent and for that reason, the reader will be rewarded.