No Ordinary Deaths: A People's History of Mortality

A vibrant, compelling social history of death, dying, and how our ends shape our lives and societies 'A beautifully written and thought provoking journey' Professor Sue Black, author of All That Remains 'There surely won't be a better history of the subject than Conisbee's' Literary Review 'Richly researched ... an intimate chronology' TLS The lost art of 'dying well' was common knowledge to our ancestors - who, living closer to death than we do, had an intimate and integrated relationship with the afterlife. For centuries, cycles of death, dying and disposal have shaped society, from the death-watchers of the Middle Age to the pomp of Victorian funeral wear. Ranging from the plague pit to the grave-robbery, from consecrated ground to the hangman's drop, No Ordinary Deaths is a groundbreaking work of social history which asks: how did our ancestors live, and die? How might the old ways help prepare us for our own ends?