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emiged's review
3.0
In this fascinating history, Ms. Yalom acts as our tour guide through four centuries of American burial grounds. Beginning with the lofty burial mounds of the Native Americans throughout the Mississippi region, and ending with the modern trend toward “green burials,” she covers the gamut of burial sites from Hawaii to Maine, rich to poor, Catholic to Protestant and Jewish to Muslim, famous to unknown, and finds them each as intriguing and unique as the individuals they represent.
Gravestones provide brief but tantalizing glimpses into the lives of those who preceded us, sometimes by centuries. Epitaphs can be both poignant and enthralling in their brevity. For example, “She died 23 December 1771 in giving Birth to an Infant Daughter, who rests in her Arms.” Or “Slain by Indians while recovering animals stolen by them.” Heart-breakingly, children are over-represented in cemeteries of bygone days. Often several tiny grave markers clustered together and bearing the same last name act as a testament to the great, deeply felt losses many families experienced when childhood mortality rates were much higher than they are today.
The book opens with more than 60 breathtaking black-and-white photographs, each on a separate plate at the beginning, taken by the author's son and later referred to in the text. But there aren't nearly enough! I wanted a picture of each of the hundreds of unique tombstones, crypts, and graveyards she describes. After four chapters laying the broad foundation of how the movement of history affected graveyards in general, Ms. Yalom takes us on the journey she and her son traced as they traveled through different regions of the United States. Starting in New England at some of the earliest European cemeteries in the United States, she describes the stark and spare gravestones, often decorated with winged skulls, used by Puritans to remind all those who saw them of their “mortality and the certainty of physical death” with the wings representing “the spirit and the possibility of resurrection.” They continue south through Rhode Island and New York City, highlighting the difficulties of maintaining adequate cemeteries near booming cities as the cities grow and the ground in which the dead rest becomes more and more valuable.
Eventually reaching the South, Ms. Yalom spends a significant chunk of the chapter called “The Southern Way of Death” on graveyards specifically set aside for African Americans, both slaves and freedmen. New Orleans, with its below-sea-level elevation, requires above-ground burial in crypts, vaults and family tombs. Because many of these repositories can be used over and over by family members, this leads to a “burial pattern, unique in America, [that] has produced a special ethos among longtime New Orleanians: because they expect to be reunited with their relatives after death, they often experience a deep attachment to the family tomb.” Consequently, All Saints' Day, November 1, is a municipally recognized holiday in New Orleans, and is marked by families who gather to take care of their family tomb, enjoy a picnic or traditional meal, share stories of those entombed there, and decorate the graves with yellow chrysanthemums.
Ms. Yalom and her son continue on through the Midwest, Texas, California, and Hawaii, exploring the unique issues facing cemeteries and burials in each area. The book ends with a contemplation of several of the most famous military cemeteries, notably Gettysburg National Cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery, and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii as well as some overseas military cemeteries, and a survey of some of the trends relating to graveyards, including pet cemeteries and the cemetery preservation movement. A wide-ranging treatment of cemeteries across the country, The American Resting Place will increase your appreciation for, and understanding of, these final resting places.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
Gravestones provide brief but tantalizing glimpses into the lives of those who preceded us, sometimes by centuries. Epitaphs can be both poignant and enthralling in their brevity. For example, “She died 23 December 1771 in giving Birth to an Infant Daughter, who rests in her Arms.” Or “Slain by Indians while recovering animals stolen by them.” Heart-breakingly, children are over-represented in cemeteries of bygone days. Often several tiny grave markers clustered together and bearing the same last name act as a testament to the great, deeply felt losses many families experienced when childhood mortality rates were much higher than they are today.
The book opens with more than 60 breathtaking black-and-white photographs, each on a separate plate at the beginning, taken by the author's son and later referred to in the text. But there aren't nearly enough! I wanted a picture of each of the hundreds of unique tombstones, crypts, and graveyards she describes. After four chapters laying the broad foundation of how the movement of history affected graveyards in general, Ms. Yalom takes us on the journey she and her son traced as they traveled through different regions of the United States. Starting in New England at some of the earliest European cemeteries in the United States, she describes the stark and spare gravestones, often decorated with winged skulls, used by Puritans to remind all those who saw them of their “mortality and the certainty of physical death” with the wings representing “the spirit and the possibility of resurrection.” They continue south through Rhode Island and New York City, highlighting the difficulties of maintaining adequate cemeteries near booming cities as the cities grow and the ground in which the dead rest becomes more and more valuable.
Eventually reaching the South, Ms. Yalom spends a significant chunk of the chapter called “The Southern Way of Death” on graveyards specifically set aside for African Americans, both slaves and freedmen. New Orleans, with its below-sea-level elevation, requires above-ground burial in crypts, vaults and family tombs. Because many of these repositories can be used over and over by family members, this leads to a “burial pattern, unique in America, [that] has produced a special ethos among longtime New Orleanians: because they expect to be reunited with their relatives after death, they often experience a deep attachment to the family tomb.” Consequently, All Saints' Day, November 1, is a municipally recognized holiday in New Orleans, and is marked by families who gather to take care of their family tomb, enjoy a picnic or traditional meal, share stories of those entombed there, and decorate the graves with yellow chrysanthemums.
Ms. Yalom and her son continue on through the Midwest, Texas, California, and Hawaii, exploring the unique issues facing cemeteries and burials in each area. The book ends with a contemplation of several of the most famous military cemeteries, notably Gettysburg National Cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery, and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii as well as some overseas military cemeteries, and a survey of some of the trends relating to graveyards, including pet cemeteries and the cemetery preservation movement. A wide-ranging treatment of cemeteries across the country, The American Resting Place will increase your appreciation for, and understanding of, these final resting places.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
skyturtles's review
2.0
The research is thorough and well-done; I just found it a little dull. Perhaps if it read like a collection of travel essays rather than straight history, it would draw one in more.
amythebookbat's review
5.0
This book fulfills requirement 10~ Featuring Diversity for the 2015 Eclectic Reader challenge. (It could also count for #4~ Microhistory, but I already had that one covered).
I really liked this book. There was a lot of interesting history about funerary customs and how they came to American and evolved over time and place. It is also an interesting sociological look at death and remembrance. As far as diversity, this book is full of it. The book discusses various religious groups such as Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist. It also mentions several nationalities including Irish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Scandinavian, and French to name a few. I also thought it interesting how some of the cemeteries were arranged by class and race. I never really thought about how cemeteries were arranged before, but after reading this book, I have a much better understanding about death in America.
If I had to pick one thing that I would change, it would be the photographs. The photography is really good. My issue is that it is all grouped as a portfolio at the beginning of the book and I would have liked it to be spread throughout. There were some instances when something was being described that would have been nice to have a photo to illustrate it. It is just a nit-picky thing, so I won't take away anything for that. Otherwise, I really liked how the book was set up to go from region to region to discuss the differences in burials in the different areas of the country.
Overall, I would say that if you are interested in cemeteries or history, this is a good book to look into.
I really liked this book. There was a lot of interesting history about funerary customs and how they came to American and evolved over time and place. It is also an interesting sociological look at death and remembrance. As far as diversity, this book is full of it. The book discusses various religious groups such as Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist. It also mentions several nationalities including Irish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Scandinavian, and French to name a few. I also thought it interesting how some of the cemeteries were arranged by class and race. I never really thought about how cemeteries were arranged before, but after reading this book, I have a much better understanding about death in America.
If I had to pick one thing that I would change, it would be the photographs. The photography is really good. My issue is that it is all grouped as a portfolio at the beginning of the book and I would have liked it to be spread throughout. There were some instances when something was being described that would have been nice to have a photo to illustrate it. It is just a nit-picky thing, so I won't take away anything for that. Otherwise, I really liked how the book was set up to go from region to region to discuss the differences in burials in the different areas of the country.
Overall, I would say that if you are interested in cemeteries or history, this is a good book to look into.
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