For many, a mummy is an Egyptian pharaoh, wrapped in cloth, found thousands of years later in a pyramid by archaeologists. But mummies need not be ancient. Modern-day mummies can be found under glass in special tombs built in their honor, in private collections where they have come to rest after decades on the carnival circuit, in dissecting rooms of medical schools, and in the basements of funeral homes waiting for decades to be claimed by the next of kin. Stories about the famous (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Eva Peron) and the not-so-famous (Leslie Hansell wanted her body mummified to bask in the sun rather than being buried in the cold ground) mummies are told here in great detail. The book includes a comprehensive study of the successful prolonged preservation of the human body, and delves into the law and science of modern mummification.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"a well researched text with a mass of detail of anecdotal and technical variety" -- The Embalmer
"amazing" -- Freaks
"choc-full of riveting posthumous biographies...extraordinary photographs...a fascinating tome" -- Fortean Times
"detailed study...incorporates carnival mummies, religious incorruptibility, freak accidents, mortuary science, and cryogenics" -- C&RL News
"those interested in ancient or modern mummification can unearth useful information" -- Blue & Gray
"amazing" -- Freaks
"choc-full of riveting posthumous biographies...extraordinary photographs...a fascinating tome" -- Fortean Times
"detailed study...incorporates carnival mummies, religious incorruptibility, freak accidents, mortuary science, and cryogenics" -- C&RL News
"those interested in ancient or modern mummification can unearth useful information" -- Blue & Gray
About the Author
Christine Quigley is office manager for Georgetown University Press. She is also the author of Death Dictionary and The Corpse. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Only book of its kind,
By A Customer
This review is from: Modern Mummies: The Preservation of the Human Body in the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)
I read this book while researching a film about mummies. It is, to my knowledge, the only book of its kind. Most think of mummies as belonging exclusively to the ancients--Egyptian, Peruvian, and otherwise--but this book illuminates a continuing need to deny the reality of "dust to dust" in our modern age. Passages on the secular communist icons that have undergone permanent emblaming (Mao, Lenin) and on Summum Corp., a contemporary mummification facility, are very interesting. Highly recommended.
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