Full Description
How has our understanding of death evolved over the course of 2,500 years? What can recorded history tell us about how different cultures and societies have felt about, experienced, responded to and marked the occasion of death across different periods and lands?
These are the questions pursued by 54 experts in this landmark work that explores the way past societies thought, behaved and developed as they wrestled with enormity of their own mortality. The volumes draw on history, anthropology and cultural studies to carve a complete picture of death, its symbols and interpretations from Antiquity to the present day.
Individual editors ensure volumes are cohesive and chapter titles are also identical across the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or tracing a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six.
The six volumes cover: 1. - Antiquity (500 BCE - 800 CE); 2. - Middle Ages (800 - 1450); 3. -Renaissance (1450 - 1650) ; 4. - Age of Enlightenment (1650 - 1789); 5. - Age of Empire (1800 - 1920); 6. - Modern Age (1920 - 2000+).
Themes (and chapter titles) are: Dead and Dying Bodies; The Sensory Aesthetics of Death; Emotions, Mortality and Vitality; Death's Ritual-Symbolic Performance; Sites, Power and Politics of Death; Gender, Age and Identity; Explaining Death; and The Undead and Eternal.
The page extent is approximately 1,728 pp with c. 300 illustrations. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors, a series preface and an introduction, and concludes with Notes, Bibliography and an Index.
The Cultural Histories Series
A Cultural History of Death is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully-searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).
Contents
Volume 1: A Cultural History of Death in Antiquity
Edited by Mario Erasmo, University of Georgia, USA
1. Dead and Dying Bodies, Valerie M. Hope, Open University, UK
2. The Sensory Aesthetics of Death, Robert Garland, Colgate University, USA
3. Emotions, Mortality and Vitality, Evy Johanne Håland, Government Grant Holder, Norway
4. Death's Ritual-Symbolic Performance, Emma-Jayne Graham, Open University, UK
5. Sites, Power and Politics of Death, Penelope J. E. Davies, University of Texas at Austin, USA
6. Gender, Age and Identity, Maureen Carroll, University of York, UK
7. Explaining Death: Belief, Law and Ethics, Anton J. L. van Hooff, The Netherlands
8. The Undead and Eternal, Debbie Felton, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
Volume 2: A Cultural History of Death in the Middle Ages
Edited by Ashby Kinch, University of Montana, USA
1. Dead and Dying Bodies, Danielle Westerhoff, Durham University, UK
2. The Sensory Aesthetics of Death, Elina Gertsman and Sam Truman, Western Reserve University, USA
3. Emotions, Mortality and Vitality, Jill Bradley, Independent scholar
4. Death's Ritual-Symbolic Performance, Amy Appleford, Boston University, USA
5. Sites, Power and Politics of Death, Victoria Whitworth, Independent scholar, UK
6. Gender, Age and Identity, Belle Tuten, Juniata College, USA
7. Explaining Death: Belief, Law and Ethics, Bruce Gordon, Yale University and Divinity School, USA
8. The Undead and Eternal, Carl Watkins, Cambridge University, UK
Volume 3: A Cultural History of Death in the Renaissance
Edited by Gordon D. Raeburn, University of Melbourne, Australia and Nathaniel A. Warne, Independent Scholar, UK
1. Dead and Dying Bodies, Bruce Gordon, Yale University and Divinity School, USA
2. The Sensory Aesthetics of Death, Tess Knighton, Cambridge University, UK
3. Emotions, Mortality and Vitality, Gordon D. Raeburn, University of Melbourne, Australia
4. Death's Ritual-Symbolic Performance, Clare Gittings, Independent Scholar, UK
5. Sites, Power and Politics of Death, Peter Sherlock, University of Divinity, Australia
6. Gender, Age and Identity, Susan Broomhall, Australian Catholic University, Australia
7. Explaining Death: Belief, Law and Ethics, Sarah Covington, Queens College, City University of New York, USA
8. The Undead and Eternal, Katherine Edwards, University of South Carolina, USA
Volume 4: A Cultural History of Death in the Age of Enlightenment
Edited by Jeffrey Freedman, Yeshiva University, USA
1. Dead and Dying Bodies, Cathy McClive, Florida State University, USA
2. The Sensory Aesthetics of Death, Antoine de Baecque, Ecole normale supérieure, France — Trans. J. Freedman
3. Emotions, Mortality and Vitality, Joanna Stalnaker, Columbia University, USA
4. Death's Ritual-Symbolic Performance, Avriel Bar-Levav, Open University of Israel, Israel
5. Sites, Power and Politics of Death, Avner Ben-Amos, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
6. Gender, Age and Identity, David G. Troyansky, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of City University of New York, USA
7. Explaining Death: Belief, Law and Ethics, Vera Lind, Illinois University, USA
8. The Undead and Eternal, Nick Groom, University of Macau, China
Volume 5: A Cultural History of Death in the Age of Empire
Edited by Helen MacDonald, University of Melbourne, Australia
1. Dead and Dying Bodies, Christopher Hamlin, University of Notre Dame, USA
2. The Sensory Aesthetics of Death, Elizabeth Hallam, University of Oxford, UK
3. Emotions, Mortality and Vitality, Julie-Marie Strange, Durham University, UK
4. Death's Ritual-Symbolic Performance, Rebekah Lee, Goldsmiths University of London, UK
5. Sites, Power and Politics of Death, Thomas Laqueur, University of California, Berkeley, USA
6. Gender, Age and Identity, Andrea Major, University of Leeds, UK
7. Explaining Death: Belief, Law and Ethics, Patrick Brantlinger, Indiana University, USA
8. The Undead and Eternal, Helen MacDonald, University of Melbourne, Australia
Volume 6: A Cultural History of Death in the Modern Age
Edited by Douglas J. Davies, Durham University, UK
1. Dead and Dying Bodies, Douglas J. Davies, Durham University, UK
2. The Sensory Aesthetics of Death, Jonathan Clinch, Royal Academy of Music, UK
3. Emotions, Mortality and Vitality, Sibylle Erle, University of Lincoln, UK
4. Death's Ritual-Symbolic Performance, Brenda Mathijssen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands and Claudia Venhorst, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
5. Sites, Power and Politics of Death, Adrian Gregory, Oxford University, UK
6. Gender, Age and Identity, Panagiotis Pentaris, Goldsmiths University of London, UK and Mattia Petricola, University of L'Aquila, Italy
7. Explaining Death: Belief, Law and Ethics, Henry Novello, Flinders University, Australia
8. The Undead and Eternal, Douglas J. Davies, Durham University, UK
