Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America [Paperback]

Gary Laderman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2005

Though it has often been passionately criticized--as fraudulent, exploitative, even pagan--the American funeral home has become nearly as inevitable as death itself, an institution firmly embedded in our culture. But how did the funeral home come to hold such a position? What is its history? And is it guilty of the charges sometimes leveled against it?
In Rest in Peace, Gary Laderman traces the origins of American funeral rituals, from the evolution of embalming techniques during and after the Civil War and the shift from home funerals to funeral homes at the turn of the century, to the increasing subordination of priests, ministers, and other religious figures to the funeral director throughout the twentieth century. In doing so he shows that far from manipulating vulnerable mourners, as Jessica Mitford claimed in her best-selling The American Way of Death (1963), funeral directors are highly respected figures whose services reflect the community's deepest needs and wishes. Indeed, Laderman shows that funeral directors generally give the people what they want when it is time to bury our dead. He reveals, for example, that the open casket, often criticized as barbaric, provides a deeply meaningful moment for friends and family who must say goodbye to their loved one. But he also shows how the dead often come back to life in the popular imagination to disturb the peace of the living.
Drawing upon interviews with funeral directors, major historical events like the funerals of John F. Kennedy and Rudolf Valentino, films, television, newspaper reports, proposals for funeral reform, and other primary sources, Rest in Peace cuts through the rhetoric to show us the reality--and the real cultural value--of the American funeral.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1963, Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death shocked the nation and provoked scandal throughout the funeral industry. Mitford portrayed undertakers as exploitative businessmen eager to turn a profit off of a poor man's grief. Her book climbed the bestseller list and put the growing and profitable funeral industry on the defensive. Forty years later, Laderman comes to the industry's defense with this thoughtful book. His case is cautious and honest. He presents the industry's history from its inception during the Civil War period up to the present. The author explores American attitudes toward death through various lenses, including cultural, religious and psychological history, which demonstrate a pervasive fascination with death and a desire to share an intimate moment with the dead as a part of the grieving process. Cultural examples of this include the wave of public grief at the sudden death of movie icon Rudolph Valentino and Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winning play Our Town. In the last chapter, Laderman discusses current and future challenges facing the industry-such as a desire for cremation and "the rise of death-care giants"-and the industry's successful attempt to deal with them. Laderman, a professor of American religious history and culture at Emory University, provides convincing evidence that the industry is a necessary and compassionate force in American life. While critics like Mitford paint a picture of greed, this account offers a more nuanced image: an industry that provides a "meaningful and material order out of the chaos of death." Illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In this sequel to his 1996 study of nineteenth-century attitudes toward death (Sacred Remains), Laderman sharply disputes the thesis of Jessica Mitford's influential 1963 expose, The American Way of Death. The funeral directors that Mitford depicted as unscrupulous profiteers are portrayed by Laderman as conscientious professionals. The funeral embalming that Mitford deplored as a costly scam, Laderman represents as crucial to making possible the ceremonial viewing of the deceased that many Americans regard as deeply meaningful. Along the way, he provides fascinating details about how modern morticians have handled deaths in the limelight (JFK) and about how funeral directors have changed their methods in response to muckraking accusations (including Mitford's) and to shifting cultural attitudes toward death. He also traces some especially pronounced changes in the cultural context for the newly restyled death-care industry in the last couple of decades: more demand for cremation rather than burial (reflecting both an influx of Asian immigrants and a decline of traditional orthodoxies), and more privately scripted memorial services. Laderman piquantly illustrates these recent trends by recounting the highly unconventional funeral of--it had to be--Jessica Mitford. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019518355X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195183559
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #686,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary Laderman is a professor of American religious history and cultures at Emory University. He is the author of two books on death in America: The Sacred Remains and Rest in Peace. Laderman is also the director and co-editor of the new online religion magazine, ReligionDispatches.org. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The flip side of the "American Way of Death" debate, September 12, 2003

By 

Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America (Hardcover)

A few years ago, I read Jessica Mitford's "American Way of Death Revisited" a 1998 update of her classic book about the funeral industry. I came away with an extremely unfavorable opinion of the funeral industry as a whole. So when I spotted "Rest In Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America" I thought that it might be a good idea to give consideration to the opposing viewpoint.

Gary Laderman's sympathetic portrait of the funeral business makes some very valid points. He traces the origins of the industry from Civil War times and the gradual transition from funerals conducted at the home to the modern concept of the funeral home. Today's funeral director has assumed a myriad of responsibilities formerly left to the family. aderman points out that conscientious funeral directors are on call 24 hours a day/7 days a week and make great sacrifices in their personal lives to take care of grief stricken families in their time of need. And the influx of immigrants from Spanish speaking countries, Asia and the Middle East has certainly complicated the task as funeral directors scramble to meet the particular needs of those indivduals.

The author does devote several pages to what most people consider to be the real problem in the funeral business today. Two or three major corporations are beginning to dominate the industry. Led by Houston based SCI Corp. these companies have been buying up local funeral homes at an alarming rate. What is most deceptive about this practice is that they usually keep the same name giving customers the impression that the business is still locally owned and operated. Furthermore, these giant corporations are vertically integrating meaning that they now also own all or a piece of casket companies, florists etc. Inevitably this kind of control results in price fixing and higher costs to consumers. These giant corporations have read the demographics and have determined that as the "baby boom" generation ages death will be a most profitable business in the coming decades. These corporations now control nearly a quarter of all of the funeral homes in this country. The author quotes a funeral director who makes the point "There's a big difference between corporations and family run funeral homes. Corporations are an assembly line. When you've got them in your office sell them everything you can. The interest of the sole proprietor is providing good service, helping a family through trying times." The author also discusses cremation and some of the alternative funeral services that are now emerging.

All in all, I found "Rest In Peace" to be a worthwhile read despite being a bit long winded at times. I think it is very important that people become conversant in these issues before they are in the position of having to plan a funeral themselves. I would strongly recommend reading both Ladermans work as well as Jessica Mitford's offering to get a balanced view of the issues involved.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morticians & Memory Images, January 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thought-provoking book concerning the management of human dead bodies in America. Though it is a scholarly work, it is filled with interesting anecdotes. Especially intriguing are accounts of the Kennedy family's private moments beside the dead President's open casket, the riots at the public viewing of Rudolph Valentino's body in New York, and the various ways in which death has been portrayed in the media. As a cultural history of the American funeral industry, it reveals morticians to be something other than stereotypical manipulative businessmen. Rather, many are "artists" who perform a significant service. Their skill at embalming and artistry in cosmetic preparation of dead bodies produces an all-important final "memory image" of the lost loved one for surviving family members and friends. This book provides an insightful perspective on a dark, but essential, subject.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Never-to-Be-Reconciled Fact of Life, September 4, 2003

By 

Jack M. Walter "Jack M. Walter" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America (Hardcover)

This is an unusual book because its faults are not that of the author, but that of American culture. A very detailed and informative history of death care in our society is laid out here, but the reading becomes repetitive and boring due to the fact that, as mortal beings, we cannot come to resolve issues about death. Topics such as embalming, the moral character of funeral directors, the viewing of the body, and the role of religion seem to be things that throughout the decades we are always circling around but never really confronting. Therefore, the same debates keep coming up on the same subjects. The most important point I take from this book is that we will never come to terms with death, but will always be psychologically held prisoners by the thought of it.