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A review by amythebookbat
The American Resting Place: 400 Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds by Marilyn Yalom, Reid S. Yalom
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.