Reinventing death in the twenty-first century

Abstract

This paper reviews two recent works on the modern-day American death ways American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the Twenty-first Century by Shannon Dawdy and The New Death: Mortality and Death Care in the Twenty-first Century edited by Dawdy and Tamara Kneese. Dawdy’s book is commended for its thoughtful description and analysis of several of the major new trends in American death-related ideas and practices and for its lively style. The discussion of The New Death consists of a critical review of each of the book’s chapters, which emphasizes the strengths and critiques some of the shortcomings of each piece. The only major criticism of both of the works under review is the fact that they pay very limited attention to those Americans who reject the innovative ideas and practices documented here. The review also calls for additional detailed ethnographies of the contemporary American death ways.