Living with the Dead
How We Care for the Deceased
Vibeke Maria Viestad, Andreas ViestadA clear-eyed survey of how we deal with death around the world.
Death is universal. It will meet us all. But it’s also a practical problem – what do we do with dead bodies? The Viestads live by a cemetery and are daily spectators of its routines, and their fascination with burials led them to dig deep to examine our relationship with the dead. Taking us on a journey through the world and the past, they explore how the deceased are honoured and cared for, cremated and buried. From archaeological sites in Spain, Israel and Russia to Ghana’s fantasy coffins and environmentally friendly burials, and from cremations without fire to turning our dearly departed’s ashes into diamonds, this empathetic and enthralling work is for anyone who knows their turn is coming, but who’d like a good book for the journey.
A clear-eyed survey of how we deal with death around the world.
Death is universal. It will meet us all. But it’s also a practical problem – what do we do with dead bodies? The Viestads live by a cemetery and are daily spectators of its routines, and their fascination with burials led them to dig deep to examine our relationship with the dead. Taking us on a journey through the world and the past, they explore how the deceased are honoured and cared for, cremated and buried. From archaeological sites in Spain, Israel and Russia to Ghana’s fantasy coffins and environmentally friendly burials, and from cremations without fire to turning our dearly departed’s ashes into diamonds, this empathetic and enthralling work is for anyone who knows their turn is coming, but who’d like a good book for the journey.
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Death is existential, instrumental and emotional. In revealing the stories of ceremonies and practicalities from near and far, across space and time, the Viestads offer us an account that’s deadly serious as well as driven by a curiosity about rituals and feelings. A beautifully written, highly informative and surprisingly entertaining book.
'Thomas Hylland Eriksen, anthropologist and author of What is Anthropology? and Overheating: An Anthropology of Accelerated Change
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Very much in the spirit of Día de los Muertos, this erudite travelogue examines how different cultures honour their dead. Wife-and-husband authors Vibeke Maria and Andreas Viestad journey to archaeological sites in Spain, encounter fantasy coffins in Ghana and learn about transforming loved ones’ ashes into diamonds in Norway.
'National Geographic Traveller
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take[s] readers on an exciting and engaging journey to probe death and burial customs throughout world history . . . The authors are most able writers, offering a book that is extremely readable, compassionately written, and full of vivid examples, all of which make for an illuminating and satisfying reading experience. Highly recommended.
'Choice
Introduction: Death Is for Everyone
Chapter 1: In the Beginning There Was the Funeral
Chapter 2: Death as a Practical Problem
Chapter 3: Packed in Plastic
Chapter 4: The Business of Death
Chapter 5: Choosing a Coffin
Chapter 6: Dust to Dust
Chapter 7: Up in Smoke
Chapter 8: Piecemeal and Divided
Chapter 9: A Monument to the Dead
Chapter 10: The Empty and Nameless Grave
Chapter 11: Death as Jewelry
Chapter 12: Living with the Dead
Sources
Acknowledgements
Index
Vibeke Maria Viestad (Author)
Vibeke Maria Viestad is an archaeologist at the University of Oslo and Honorary Research Fellow at Wits University, Johannesburg. She is the author of Dress as Social Relations.
Andreas Viestad (Author)
Andreas Viestad is a writer, TV chef, restaurateur and food activist. He is the longtime host of New Scandinavian Cooking and a former columnist of the Washington Post. He is the author of Dinner in Rome.
The Viestads live by a graveyard in Oslo and on a farm outside of Cape Town.