Digging up the dead

the politics of exhumation, reinterment, and reputation in American culture

260 pages

English language

Published Dec. 26, 2009 by University of Chicago Press.

ISBN:
9780226423296
OCLC Number:
416137413

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A funeral closes a life story, and a grave in a cemetery marks its end forever. But what happens when those left behind don't agree about the meaning of that story? Or when that disagreement extends all the way to arguments about the final resting place itself? In a surprising number of cases over the years, that's when people have chosen to grab shovels and start digging.With Digging Up the Dead, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Michael Kammen reveals a treasure trove of fascinating, surprising, and sometimes gruesome stories of exhumation and reburial from throughout American history.

4 editions

Subjects

  • Exhumation -- United States -- History
  • Exhumation -- Political aspects -- United States
  • Burial -- United States -- History
  • Funeral rites and ceremonies -- United States -- History