SKU: 10937330580

The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains

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The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal RemainsThe meaning of our concern for mortal remains from antiquity through the twentieth century The Greek philosopher Diogenes said that when he died his body should be tossed over the city walls for beasts to scavenge. Why should he or anyone else care what became of his corpse? In The Work of the Dead, acclaimed cultural historian Thomas Laqueur examines why humanity has universally rejected Diogenes's argument. No culture has been indifferent to mortal

The meaning of our concern for mortal remains--from antiquity through the twentieth century

The Greek philosopher Diogenes said that when he died his body should be tossed over the city walls for beasts to scavenge. Why should he or anyone else care what became of his corpse? In The Work of the Dead, acclaimed cultural historian Thomas Laqueur examines why humanity has universally rejected Diogenes's argument. No culture has been indifferent to mortal remains. Even in our supposedly disenchanted scientific age, the dead body still matters--for individuals, communities, and nations. A remarkably ambitious history, The Work of the Dead offers a compelling and richly detailed account of how and why the living have cared for the dead, from antiquity to the twentieth century.

The book draws on a vast range of sources--from mortuary archaeology, medical tracts, letters, songs, poems, and novels to painting and landscapes in order to recover the work that the dead do for the living: making human communities that connect the past and the future. Laqueur shows how the churchyard became the dominant resting place of the dead during the Middle Ages and why the cemetery largely supplanted it during the modern period. He traces how and why since the nineteenth century we have come to gather the names of the dead on great lists and memorials and why being buried without a name has become so disturbing. And finally, he tells how modern cremation, begun as a fantasy of stripping death of its history, ultimately failed--and how even the ashes of the victims of the Holocaust have been preserved in culture.

A fascinating chronicle of how we shape the dead and are in turn shaped by them, this is a landmark work of cultural history.-- "Library Journal"

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 05/08/2018
ISBN: 9780691180939
Pages: 744
Weight: 2.00lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 2.20d
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SKU: 10937330580

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Senior bird
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 5
Easy of use
Format: Paperback
I created our living trust and wills with the package. Just follow the instructions, answer the questions, and you are done. For simple trust, I would recommend using the software.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2026
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T. Wingate
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 4
If you order this kit verify that you receive the 2026 book
Format: Paperback
Good software that walks you through the steps to create your will, a trust, and a number of other necessary documents that you might want, or need. The book Amazon shipped was for 2025, not 2026, hence the one star subtraction. The code for the software in the book did not work, probably because it was over a year old. I wanted to get started and didn't want to go through the return process, so I contacted Nolo and they were great. They asked to see a copy of the invoice and once they confirmed it was for 2026 (during the call,) they provided the correct software. While I would have preferred the 2026 book, I suspected the 2025 was close enough, and the software will advise what has changed for anything I do.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2026
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math_guy51
Alexandria, US
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All you need before talking to an attorney
Format: Paperback
Excellent tool. 👍👍👍👍🐼👍
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Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2026
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sailorman
Draper, US
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Trust is not user-friendly
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Could not get trust to work as needed. Software is not user-friendly. Nolo no help. Returned.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2026
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Kenneth Haselhorst
Dallas, US
★★★★★ 5
Law
Format: Paperback
I have used this to build a Will and a Trust. Now I will take my papers to a lawyer and see if worked as expected. I think everything should be right but will wait and see. For now I give it 4 stars, but if a lawyer says it is all right, than 5 stars.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2026

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