Spanning geographies, cultures, and the ages, a moving journey into the physical facts and metaphysical mysteries of how the living care for the dead. 
 
Death is universal. It will meet us all. But it’s also a practical problem—what do we do with dead bodies? Vibeke Maria and Andreas Viestad live by a cemetery and are daily spectators of its routines, and their fascination with burials has led them to dig deep to examine our relationship with the dead. Taking us on a journey around the world and into the past, the Viestads explore how the deceased are honored and cared for, cremated, and buried. From archaeological sites in Spain, Israel, and Russia to environmentally friendly burials in the United States and Ghana’s fantasy coffins, and from cremations without fire to the new industry turning our dearly departed’s ashes into diamonds, this empathetic and enthralling book is for anyone who knows their turn is coming, but who’d like a good book for the journey.

Vibeke Maria Viestad is an archaeologist at the University of Oslo and an honorary research fellow at Wits University, Johannesburg. She is the author of Dress as Social Relations. Andreas Viestad is a writer, TV chef, restaurateur, and food activist. He is the longtime host of New Scandinavian Cooking and a former columnist at the Washington Post. He is the author of Dinner in Rome, also published by Reaktion Books. The Viestads live by a graveyard in Oslo and on a farm outside of Cape Town. Matt Bagguley is a translator of Norwegian fiction and nonfiction. He lives in Oslo.

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