Necropolis: London and Its Dead [Hardcover]

Catharine Arnold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Necropolis is a luminous, oddly beguiling account of how London has treated its dead, ranging from Roman burial rites to the horrors of the plague, from the founding of the great Victorian cemeteries to the more recent trends of collective grief and the cult of mourning, such as that surrounding the death of Princess Diana. Leaving no headstone unturned, Catherine Arnold unearths one of the great untold histories of the nation's capitol. Skillfully blending history, architecture, archaeology, and anecdote, she also explores phenomena like bodysnatching, public executions, and the rise of the undertaking trade. Ghoulishly entertaining and full of fascinating nuggets of information, Necropolis is destined to become a classic work on the city.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Everything you always wanted to know about perishing in London."  —Kirkus Reviews

"Deeply pleasing . . . . Entertainment of the most garish and exquisite kind. . . . A Baedeker of the dead."  —The Times

"Stitching archaeological discovery and architectural detail to anecdote and cultural commentary, Necropolis paints London as a city 'drained by death.'"  —Financial Times

"Enthusiastic, good-humored and constantly engaging."  —Daily Telegraph

About the Author

Catharine Arnold read English at Cambridge and holds a further degree in psychology. A journalist, academic and popular historian, Catharine's previous books include the novel "Lost Time", winner of a Betty Trask award, and "Necropolis: London and Its Dead", the first of her projected London trilogy.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743268334
• ISBN-13: 978-0743268332
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been more lively, July 19, 2007

By 

Stephen McHenry (Olney, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Necropolis: London and Its Dead (Hardcover)

A well researched presentation of burial rites in the city London since earliest known times to the very present, including medieval London facing the same problem that Catholic cities everywhere faced with the desire to preserve the body for Judgment Day and to bury the corpse in a churchyard, coupled with practically no common sense about health and hygiene, struggling to find room for the dead in the land of the living.
An interesting book without being too ghoulish or gory; there are plenty of anecdotes. One wishes that, instead of just giving the bare bones of some stories, the author had spent a little more time fleshing them out, such as she did with the affect of massive deaths in the World Wars and from the plaque. There is a very well done section on Victorian funeral attitudes and the creation of the undertaking business, including how attitudes on grief had changed coming up to the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.
More drawings, lithos or photos would have been interesting.
Written by a Brit for Brits, there are some references to figures of the past that may be unknown to the American reader, but nothing that bogs the presentation.

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling, November 4, 2010

By 

Luthien3991 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Necropolis: London and Its Dead (Paperback)

A simply wonderful book! A somewhat easy read (would more likely be easier for UK readers, but I am from the USA) with many well known names. I find it to be thrilling for those new in the subject, and those who have some knowledge already, simply because of the multitude of subjects breached. As an anthropological student, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in London and just what lies beneath it's soil.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting History, January 10, 2010

By 

Luxx Mishley "Luxx" - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Necropolis: London and Its Dead (Paperback)

I first came across Arnold's Necropolis while conducting research for a graduate paper on Chaucer's treatment of corpses in The Canterbury Tales in 2007. At first glance the book seemed intriguing and promising, and I ended up using some of Arnold's early descriptions to help establish the evolution of British corpse-treatment before Chaucer's time. However, I did not get a chance to read the entire book until now.

Necropolis: London and Its Dead is entertaining, and will surely keep the interest of literary and cemetery enthusiasts alike. Far from a scholarly text, Arnold's collective history seems to be aimed at a larger public, and she does her best to assume very little of her audience. However, this seems to lead to a tendency to ramble and go off on tangents; several times in a single chapter Arnold will stray away from the subject at hand (funeral practices, establishing cemeteries, etc) in order to elaborate on the details of an individual's life. Sometimes this information can be very interesting, and at others I found myself wondering why the identity of someone's teenage lover is important to the context of their burial, when Arnold herself makes no attempt to connect the two subjects. Such wandering thoughts are what keep Necropolis from being "excellent", and ground her in the realm of popular reading as opposed to academic publishing.

That all being said, Necropolis is a fascinating read, and one that gives the reader not only interesting tidbits to take away, but a sense of life and cultural throughout the development of London society.