Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts PDF Author: Penny Colman
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1466801352
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
Drawing on extensive historical and anthropological research, personal accounts, and interviews with people who work in the funeral industry, Penny Colman examines the compelling subjects of death and burial across cultures and societies. The text, enriched with stories both humorous and poignant, includes details about the decomposition and embalming processes (an adult corpse buried six feet deep without a coffin will usually take five to ten years to turn into a skeleton) and describes the various customs associated with containing remains (the Igala people in Nigeria have a custom of burying people in as many as twenty-seven layers of clothing). Intriguing facts are revealed at every turn; for example, in Madagascar winter was considered the corpse-turning season. This comprehensive book also includes a list of burial sites of famous people, images in the arts associated with death, fascinating epitaphs and gravestone carvings, a chronology and a glossary, and over a hundred black-and-white photographs, most of which were taken by the author. Penny Colman writes with compassion and intelligence and humanizes the difficult subjects of death and burial. The result is a powerful look at an inevitable part of life--death.

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts PDF Author: Penny Colman
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1466801352
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
Drawing on extensive historical and anthropological research, personal accounts, and interviews with people who work in the funeral industry, Penny Colman examines the compelling subjects of death and burial across cultures and societies. The text, enriched with stories both humorous and poignant, includes details about the decomposition and embalming processes (an adult corpse buried six feet deep without a coffin will usually take five to ten years to turn into a skeleton) and describes the various customs associated with containing remains (the Igala people in Nigeria have a custom of burying people in as many as twenty-seven layers of clothing). Intriguing facts are revealed at every turn; for example, in Madagascar winter was considered the corpse-turning season. This comprehensive book also includes a list of burial sites of famous people, images in the arts associated with death, fascinating epitaphs and gravestone carvings, a chronology and a glossary, and over a hundred black-and-white photographs, most of which were taken by the author. Penny Colman writes with compassion and intelligence and humanizes the difficult subjects of death and burial. The result is a powerful look at an inevitable part of life--death.

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts PDF Author: Penny Colman
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805050660
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
Documents the burial process throughout the centuries and in different cultures.

After We Die

After We Die PDF Author: Norman L. Cantor
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1589017137
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book

Book Description
What will become of our earthly remains? What happens to our bodies during and after the various forms of cadaver disposal available? Who controls the fate of human remains? What legal and moral constraints apply? Legal scholar Norman Cantor provides a graphic, informative, and entertaining exploration of these questions. After We Die chronicles not only a corpse’s physical state but also its legal and moral status, including what rights, if any, the corpse possesses. In a claim sure to be controversial, Cantor argues that a corpse maintains a “quasi-human status" granting it certain protected rights—both legal and moral. One of a corpse’s purported rights is to have its predecessor’s disposal choices upheld. After We Die reviews unconventional ways in which a person can extend a personal legacy via their corpse’s role in medical education, scientific research, or tissue transplantation. This underlines the importance of leaving instructions directing post-mortem disposal. Another cadaveric right is to be treated with respect and dignity. After We Die outlines the limits that “post-mortem human dignity” poses upon disposal options, particularly the use of a cadaver or its parts in educational or artistic displays. Contemporary illustrations of these complex issues abound. In 2007, the well-publicized death of Anna Nicole Smith highlighted the passions and disputes surrounding the handling of human remains. Similarly, following the 2003 death of baseball great Ted Williams, the family in-fighting and legal proceedings surrounding the corpse’s proposed cryogenic disposal also raised contentious questions about the physical, legal, and ethical issues that emerge after we die. In the tradition of Sherwin Nuland's How We Die, Cantor carefully and sensitively addresses the post-mortem handling of human remains.

Death Embraced: New Orleans Tombs and Burial Customs, Behind the Scenes Accounts of Decay, Love and Tradition

Death Embraced: New Orleans Tombs and Burial Customs, Behind the Scenes Accounts of Decay, Love and Tradition PDF Author: Mary LaCoste
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1483432106
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Get Book

Book Description
Death Embraced is like no other book you have ever read. Fascinating and entertaining, it leads readers to ponder issues that should not be avoided. Some may want to use it as a guide to visiting New Orleans graveyards . . . or as a guide to life. "An amazing book by an even more amazing writer, historian and educator with vast knowledge of the Crescent City's history and an intimate understanding of many of the Big Easy's lesser-known cultural traditions and customs. A must-read for anyone who is serious about learning the true history of New Orleans. I dare you to try to put it down after reading its first few pages." -Edmund W. Lewis, Editor, The Louisiana Weekly "A gem of a book, full of little things you didn't know you wanted to know. With subtitle wit and serious depth of knowledge, Mary LaCoste shares the down and dirty of one of New Orleans most mysterious institutions." -Liz Scott, New Orleans Magazine

Ghosts In The Graveyard

Ghosts In The Graveyard PDF Author: Olyve Abbott
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
ISBN: 1461661951
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book

Book Description
Legends of abandoned old graveyards and some not so abandoned abound-the crying dog in the cemetary well, the wandering ghost of Long Tom March, who carries a deck of cards and won't rest until he finds a winning poker hand. Next to a graveyard where an arm is buried, the old piano in the fogotten church plays. These and other tales along with some more recent real-life experiences will intrigue you, skeptic or not. Read the tales with an open mind. They are for pleasure, a bit of paranormal, a little seriousness, and hopefully a laugh or two. If you are a nonbeliever in the supernatural, you may change your skepticism is etched in stone. Then again the author learned that nothing is etched in stone forever. This humorous book also includes some unusual coffins, tombstones, and epitaphs as well as some early Texas burial traditions.

Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology

Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology PDF Author: Theresa Bane
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786455810
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Get Book

Book Description
From the earliest days of oral history to the present, the vampire myth persists among mankind’s deeply-rooted fears. This encyclopedia, with entries ranging from “Abchanchu” to “Zmeus,” includes nearly 600 different species of historical and mythological vampires, fully described and detailed.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony PDF Author: Penny Colman
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1466850078
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Get Book

Book Description
Weaving events, quotations, personalities, and commentary into a page-turning narrative, Penny Colman's Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony vividly portrays a friendship that changed history. In the Spring of 1851 two women met on a street corner in Seneca Falls, New York—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a thirty-five year old mother of four boys, and Susan B. Anthony, a thirty-one year old, unmarried, former school teacher. Immediately drawn to each other, they formed an everlasting and legendary friendship. Together they challenged entrenched beliefs, customs, and laws that oppressed women and spearheaded the fight to gain legal rights, including the right to vote despite fierce opposition, daunting conditions, scandalous entanglements and betrayal by their friends and allies.

The Whole Death Catalog

The Whole Death Catalog PDF Author: Harold Schechter
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345512510
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book

Book Description
In the tradition of Mary Roach’s bestselling Stiff and Jessica Mitford’s classic exposé The American Way of Death comes this meticulously researched, refreshingly irreverent, and lavishly illustrated look at death from acclaimed author Harold Schechter. With his trademark fearlessness and bracing sense of humor, Schechter digs deep into a wealth of sources to unearth a treasure trove of surprising facts, amusing anecdotes, practical information, and timeless wisdom about that undiscovered country to which we will all one day travel. Topics include • Death anxiety–is your fear of death normal or off the scale? • You can’t take it with you . . . or can you? Wacky wills and bizarre bequests • The hospice experience–going out in comfort and style • Deathbed and funeral etiquette–how to help the dying and mourn the dead with dignity • Death on demand–why the right-to-die movement may be the next big thing • “Good-bye everybody”–famous last words • The embalmer’s art–all dressed up and nowhere to go • Behind the scenes at your local funeral home • Alternative burial choices–from coral reefs to outer space From the cold, hard facts of death to lessons in the art of dying well, from what happens in the body’s last living moments to what transpires in the ground or in the furnace, from near-death experiences to speculation on the afterlife, The Whole Death Catalog leaves no gravestone unturned.

The Black Heavens

The Black Heavens PDF Author: Brian R. Dirck
Publisher:
ISBN: 0809337029
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Get Book

Book Description
"Drawing upon extensive recent historical studies regarding death, funerals, and mourning during the Civil War era as well as primary sources, The Black Heavens provides a realistic view of Lincoln as he encountered death. Avoiding the sentimentalization and excessive psychoanalyzing that has characterized much of the historical (and fictional) writing on the subject, this book carefully situates Lincoln within the social, cultural, and political contexts of death and mourning in his time"--

Gotcha!

Gotcha! PDF Author: Kathleen A. Baxter
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313077746
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book

Book Description
Thousands of children's books are published each year-some are outstanding, while others are not. This book makes it easier for you to find the best in children's nonfiction books, and it offers concrete, classroom-tested ideas for presenting them to students in irresistible ways. Booktalks for more than 350 nonfiction titles (appropriate for elementary and middle school students) are organized according to topics popular with young readers-Great Disasters, Unsolved Mysteries, Fascinating People, Science, and Fun Experiments to Do. In addition, there are tips on booktalking, an outline for a booktalk program, and a bibliography that can be used for collection development. Appropriate grade levels for each book are cited. Library Media Specialists will find this guide essential. The thematic approach helps teachers search for titles that correlate to curriculum areas or specific units of study. Parents can use the book with their children as a reading selection tool. Anyone who works with young children will find this book an invaluable resource.