The Corpse: A History

by Christine Quigley

Throughout the centuries, different cultures have established a variety of procedures for handling and disposing of corpses. Often the methods are directly associated with the deceased's position in life, such as a pharaoh's mummification in Egypt or the cremation of a Buddhist.

Treatment by the living of the dead over time and across cultures is the focus of this study. Burial arrangements and preparations are detailed, including embalming, the funeral service, storage and transport of the body, and forms of burial. Autopsies and the investigative process of causes of deliberate death are fully covered. Preservation techniques such as cryonic suspension and mummification are discussed, as well as a look at the "recycling" of the corpse through organ donation, donation to medicine, animal scavengers, cannibalism, and, of course, natural decay and decomposition. Mistreatments of a corpse are also covered.

Genres: Death, History, Nonfiction, Anthropology

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Chris Quigley has been reviewing morbid books since receiving an MA in 2007 from Georgetown University, where she has worked since 1986. As of June 2009, she is on long-term disability leave. She delivered the keynote address at the first Museum of Funeral Customs symposium (Springfield, Illinois), consulted with the producers of the National Geographic Channel’s Mummy Road Show, and authored five morbid books of her own - Death Dictionary, The Corpse, Modern Mummies, Skulls and Skeletons, and Conjoined Twins - all published by McFarland & Co.

Reviews

[Petra wonders if AI going to kill search engines? · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a put-aside-for-now book, one up from a DNF. It isn't that it is totally uninteresting, but neither does it excite with new information. It is as if the author searched both a library and Google for every single reference to 'corpse' and 'death' she could find and then without discernment, included every single one.

An example. One chapter was devoted to the word 'death' in speech and all it's synonyms, and use of, such as 'looking like death warmed up'. It's quite exhaustive and tedious to read. The boring and irrelevant have been left in and the interesting have not been fleshed out.

The book is misnamed anyway. It should be called. The Corpse: A History of it and it's treatment in the West, primarily in the UK and US, it's entirely Western-culture centric. The author very oddly calls Jews, 'Hebrews' most of the time.

I'm getting very intolerant about books that don't hold my attention. Before I would do my best to finish them, now I just don't care. I start at least 3 books for every one I read enough of to write up on GR. I just don't care to waste time on an uninteresting read anymore.

[Bess Lovejoy]

A must-read for the morbidly curious.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an excellent read if you want to know the history of death/dying. I was amazed at some of the facts I read (& at times felt squeamish). For instance, cats will eat your body sooner than a dog would (as a mode of survival), and in eleventh-century France human flesh was sold in the marketplace. We're all going to die eventually, but I hadn't thought about what I wanted when I do (i.e. burial, cremation, etc). After reading this, I'm strongly considering donating my body to science. My perspective now being that the body is a vessel/temporary. "We're here one day, gone the next." It's the soul that carries on; if I'm buried, I won't be there. I'd have no knowledge that visitors are by my gravestone. I want my death (memorial service) to be a celebration; a celebration of my life, and life in general.

[no elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

repetitive at times; minor typographical & factual errors, but does not fall prey to the issue I had with Stiff--it does not have the same irreverent tone and it's more matter of fact, which is what I dig. (although I can see why some people don't.)

[Myrna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read if you are into this type a thing.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and informative and so, so corpsey. A bit right-slanted at times, but mainly science-based and well worth the read.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a textbook--an old-fashioned one, because almost no pictures. Certainly contains a lot of information; not entirely boring.