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78th out of 100 books
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The American Way of Death Revisited
"Mitford's funny and unforgiving book is the best memento mori we are likely to get. It should be updated and reissued each decade for our spiritual health."--The New York Review of Books
Only the scathing wit and searching intelligence of Jessica Mitford could turn an exposé of the American funeral industry into a book that is at once deadly serious and side-splittingly f...more
Only the scathing wit and searching intelligence of Jessica Mitford could turn an exposé of the American funeral industry into a book that is at once deadly serious and side-splittingly f...more
Paperback, 296 pages
Published
January 4th 2000
by Vintage
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The American Way of Death is for pessimists. Not because Mitford has any sort of bias in her writing—the book is nothing is nothing if not full of facts, figures, quotes from experts and disheartening excerpts from trade publications—but because it’s the pessimistic among us who know nothing in this country exists unless it can line someone’s pockets.
Mitford doesn’t mean to suggest that the funeral industry is corrupt, per se, and she makes a decent effort to remind us that there are...more
Mitford doesn’t mean to suggest that the funeral industry is corrupt, per se, and she makes a decent effort to remind us that there are...more
This book caused a sensation when it was released in its original form in the 1960s. These days, I can't imagine anyone would find it as shocking. Surely, we all must know that the American funeral industry, like other industries, is out to make a buck however it can, exploiting all possibilities to increase profits. Likewise, I don't think many people would be shocked to find that this industry has been aided by its friends in government or by a general failure on the part of so-called consu...more
Letting Them Dig Their Own Graves: Jessica Mitford’s The American Way of Death Revisited
“You may not be able to change the world,” Jessica Mitford said, “but at least you can embarrass the guilty.”
Embarrass them she did, and the ways she did so in The American Way of Death Revisited comprise either the most forehead-slapping no-brainer approach to investigative journalism or the result of some serious immersion in/regurgitation of the scribblings/blatherings of the trade...more
“You may not be able to change the world,” Jessica Mitford said, “but at least you can embarrass the guilty.”
Embarrass them she did, and the ways she did so in The American Way of Death Revisited comprise either the most forehead-slapping no-brainer approach to investigative journalism or the result of some serious immersion in/regurgitation of the scribblings/blatherings of the trade...more
This is a patchwork of the original and it shows. You never whether she is talking about the 1960's or the 1990's, and the pricing is useless because $100 in 1960's or is over $500 in the 1990's when it was written.
I trust morticians about as much as I trust lawyers, but I came away from this book thinking Mitford can't be trusted either. She thinks the solutions all require help from politicians and government yet is constantly documenting how the regulated take control of the reg...more
I trust morticians about as much as I trust lawyers, but I came away from this book thinking Mitford can't be trusted either. She thinks the solutions all require help from politicians and government yet is constantly documenting how the regulated take control of the reg...more
"After my talk, the first question was , 'How much money did you make from The American Way of Death?' 'Absolute tons,' I answered. 'So much I can't even count it - it made my fortune.'"
"More than one writer, soaring to wonderful heights of fantasy, has gone so far as to attribute the falling death rate in this century to the practice of embalming (which, if true, would seem a little shortsighted on the part of the practitioners)."
"A current survey of...more
"More than one writer, soaring to wonderful heights of fantasy, has gone so far as to attribute the falling death rate in this century to the practice of embalming (which, if true, would seem a little shortsighted on the part of the practitioners)."
"A current survey of...more
This book is a little old and it's not the lightest topic which is why I didn't rate it that highly. I also found it a bit long and repetitive in places. That being said, I found it amazing, and incredibly sad, how easily Americans are manipulated by marketers and worse how little the government does about it. It goes without saying that people aren't exactly in the "shop around" frame of mind when a loved one passes away. However, this book really illustrates the importance of doi...more
The old line about death and taxes is dead: death and its exploitation are life’s two certainties. Especially if you’re an American. Mitford’s exposé of the funeral industry reads like a litany of capitalism’s lowest common denominators. Profit, lies and, deceit, fuel an industry that has convinced Americans not only that it serves the need of a traditional value – but that it is a legal necessity. To that extent, The American Way of Death might be called the American Way of Tradition, for h...more
If you're ever going to die, you should read this book. Also good for people who like watching a diminutive englishwoman who was a former communist bitch-slap the funeral industry over the course of 30 years.
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Burping caskets, fashionable footwear and makeup for the corpse....all topics in this expose on the American funeral business along with "Pay Now--Die Poorer" revelations. Most American want a simple and quiet funeral. What the funeral industry wants is profit. Jessica Mitford's THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH was a #1 bestseller in the 1960's. Shortly before her death in 1996, she revised the novel and describes just how little the funeral industry has changed its hard-sell tactics. Soberin...more
Certainly, not all funeral directors fit the descriptions in this book, but this is an excellent warning for everyone. We're all going to die and we would do well to consider our options and discuss them with our loved ones before hand, and ensure that our wishes are met without costing an exorbitant amount.
The book also provides a listing of memorial societies for each state and some in Canada, which can help significantly reduce the cost you might otherwise pay for a funeral.
Distur...more
The book also provides a listing of memorial societies for each state and some in Canada, which can help significantly reduce the cost you might otherwise pay for a funeral.
Distur...more
Read it in high school.
Hysterically funny and sad at different times. Mitford's discussions on how funeral parlors "upsell" grieving families is muckraking at its finest. Her description of how to build a cheap coffin for yourself verge on Dave Barry type humor, especially when she documents the "funeral industry" making clumsy attempts to keep her quiet.
That being said, this is clearly a pre-Internet book. You couldn't hide such a thing now. 2 min...more
Hysterically funny and sad at different times. Mitford's discussions on how funeral parlors "upsell" grieving families is muckraking at its finest. Her description of how to build a cheap coffin for yourself verge on Dave Barry type humor, especially when she documents the "funeral industry" making clumsy attempts to keep her quiet.
That being said, this is clearly a pre-Internet book. You couldn't hide such a thing now. 2 min...more
Not only informative, Mitford's book on the excesses of the funeral trade is eye-opening, entertaining, and chock full of satire and righteous indignation. This book will probably shock you--unless you're one of the millions that would prefer to ignore the subject. This book definitely made me more determined that ever to avoid an open casket visitation--I will haunt you--and I'm leaning more and more toward donating my body to science. If I have an eyeball or a kidney someone can use, then I'm ...more
This updated version of Mitford's classic expose of the funeral industry retains its bite. Predatory and deceptive practices have, if anything, increased since its original publication. The current (June 2011) "Reader's Digest" has an article on '10 Things the Funeral Director Won't Tell You', covering the same sales pitches and tricks to be alert for that Mitford first exposed in her groundbreaking book. So what's a grieving consumer to do? Make sure your local funeral home is truly i...more
if you don't believe this expose of the evils of the funeral industry go back in her original book which is the one I've read fist edition see what she says about the United States Senate oversight committee,then go to that year in archives at the United States Senate and you'll find what she says is true,further research this on the net the funeral industry in my opinion is an evil one,and I'm sure you would not allow these things to be done to your loved ones .
It is eye opening,horrible,...more
It is eye opening,horrible,...more
A fascinating read about a subject we don't encounter often. I feel like most of what the author points out are sales tactics to be expected in any business, it just seems more unseemly when you're dealing with people at a very emotional time in their life. However, there are a few practices that she highlights that are appalling no matter what business you're in. An unexpected surprise popped up when the author was talking about Forest Lawn cemetary in Los Angeles, she mentions this was the ...more
This book was mentioned in several of the other books and it's quite the look inside the funeral industry. So many times we are ill-prepared for the decisions that need to be made when a loved one passes away and the industry is ready to 'help' us make choices that profit them more than benefit us. That is the nature of business, no question; but it might be a good idea for people to examine what they'd like when the time comes. It makes the process for the survivors so much easier. Think of it ...more
I grew up going to funerals. My parents never kept this macabre portion of life from me, although it was the "sanitized" version critiqued by this book. I spent time with cousins playing around the caskets of relatives during viewings; I touched the deli-cold hand of my embalmed grandfather with the intrepid caution of a curious fourteen-year-old; I overheard adults repeating the oft-heard refrain, "We only see each other at weddings and funerals;" instilling in me from chil...more
I would not have rated this book so highly on the caliber of the writing alone, although Mitford is an excellent writer, but I found the subject matter sufficiently compelling to bump my rating up to five stars. I don't believe there is another book quite like this. A witty book about funeral/burial customs seems like an oxymoron, but that is precisely what this book offers. Mitford's initial volume, published in 1963, garnered widespread attention and lead to some minor reform in abuses that...more
This book is an expose about the numerous consumer abuses perpetrated by the death industry, which includes undertakers, cemetary owners, and the manufacturers of all their gruesome accoutrements. It was very interesting to learn a little bit about how embalming is actually done, the history of the funeral in America, differences in death ceremonies in Europe, and just to learn some of the facts that are in the book, like how the vast majority of business that florists get in America relates to ...more
Stasa
rated it
Recommends it for:
everyone; especially anyone who will ever be part of a funeral
Recommended to Stasa by:
Cherry Hill Seminary
Shelves:
spirituality-and-religion,
school
This is a fabulous book. Everyone who will ever be part of a funeral, and everyone who will ever be part of making final arrangements for someone they love, should read this. It's an easy, fun read.
As a Quaker and a Witch, I was already dedicated to simple burial. Little did I realize the extent to which what I believed about even simple burial and memorial practices had been shaped by the funeral industry.
This book has prompted, among other things, excellent (and ...more
As a Quaker and a Witch, I was already dedicated to simple burial. Little did I realize the extent to which what I believed about even simple burial and memorial practices had been shaped by the funeral industry.
This book has prompted, among other things, excellent (and ...more
This book was on my list of non-fiction books I could read one summer in high school. I remember the rest of the books on that list bored me with their descriptions, and this one had "death" in the title, which was better than what else was there. So, I read it. Not because I was some goth kid looking for something to encourage angsty hatred for mainstream culture, just because I had to read something. So, I chose it and read it. And it blew my fragile little mind.
This...more
This...more
I read The American Way of Death Revisited over the weekend & it was rather depressing, tho perhaps not in the way you'd think.
It's less of a sociological treatise of how Americans deal with death & dying as it is an expose on the American funeral home industry and how they take advantage of everyone who comes near them. Entertaining it may be, but she's definitely got an ax to grind. There's only 1 or 2 semi-gruesome sections where she describes the embalming process - and you do g...more
It's less of a sociological treatise of how Americans deal with death & dying as it is an expose on the American funeral home industry and how they take advantage of everyone who comes near them. Entertaining it may be, but she's definitely got an ax to grind. There's only 1 or 2 semi-gruesome sections where she describes the embalming process - and you do g...more
This book was first prionted in the 1960s, I think, and was the first expose of the American funeral industry. This version, "revisited," updates the older version with newer statistics and financials, but otherwise (according to the introduction) is the same as the original.
I wanted to love this book. I did learn a lot. However, the first five chapters were kinda boring, and I didn't really get the "expose" aspect of it. Yes, the funeral industry in America (espe...more
I wanted to love this book. I did learn a lot. However, the first five chapters were kinda boring, and I didn't really get the "expose" aspect of it. Yes, the funeral industry in America (espe...more
Highly reccomended to those wishing to know more about the funeral industry; how it works, and the practices they use. I thought the whole chapter dealing with the fictional Mr. Chelini and how he was taken for a ride by the director was brilliant. Describing how those "air tight" caskets are nothing more than just a gimmick, because as we all(I hope) know that nature will ultimately reclaim what is hers and regift to the environment. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
What did I think? Another wonderful book-even though the subject matter was a bit macabre. But in a way it wasn't though. The content wasn't ghoulish or scary it was factual and funny and totally eye opening. I am now more certain than ever that I want to be cremated-or frozen and then shaken so I'm powder and bio-degradable but more on that later.
Yeah thats what I thought about this awesome book. I loved every page I found it fascinating. I can't help wonder how much has changed-for better...more
Yeah thats what I thought about this awesome book. I loved every page I found it fascinating. I can't help wonder how much has changed-for better...more
Jessica Mitford's exposé of the American funeral industry (and it IS industrial) is hilarious. She has you holding your sides as you find out how your body is prepared for embalming. No really, you hold them! You don't want those guys touching your sides! This book is both disgusting and informative. After you read this, you will be convinced that cremation is the only way to go, once you go.
Interesting, but not surprising read. I'm not entirely sure what parts were updated and what were the updates, but the general take-away of "wow, funerals are expensive" wasn't changed.
I agreed with most of the arguments before reading, thanks in part to Mary Roach's very fascinating book "Stiff." I hadn't realized that embalming was a distinctly American practice, though.
I agreed with most of the arguments before reading, thanks in part to Mary Roach's very fascinating book "Stiff." I hadn't realized that embalming was a distinctly American practice, though.
Mud raking at its driest. Parts of this book were interesting, some of it was humorous, much of it was disturbing at how an industry preys on people when they are most vulnerable. I'll stick to my plan...no embalming, no funeral and no burial. Cremate me, have a good meal and say a few kind things about me and scatter the ashes wherever you see fit.
Having gone through the process of sorting out logistics of a funeral, I wasn't expecting to like this book too much. I figured it would be too fresh in my mind to make light of but alas, it was amusing/disturbing/eye-opening.
If nothing else, it confirmed my opinion that I want to be cremated and have my ashes spread under a tree in a dog park to be peed on until the end of time.
If nothing else, it confirmed my opinion that I want to be cremated and have my ashes spread under a tree in a dog park to be peed on until the end of time.
A wonderful exposé of the funerary industry. After reading this book, I simply want to be dumped in the Chesapeake Bay and let the crabs have at me. Seriously! Who needs a casket with an adjustable mattress and a picture of heaven painted on the inside of the lid? I'LL BE DEAD! I WON'T BE ENJOYING IT. My family need not feel guilty...no matter how manipulative the funeral people are. Just think of how tasty the crabs will find me and then go have some crabs....it's the circle of life.
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Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford was an English author, journalist and political campaigner, who was one of the Mitford sisters. She gained American citizenship in later life.
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