The Routledge History of Death since 1800 by Stearns, Peter N.;

Short description:

This book looks at how death has been treated and dealt with in modern history in a global context through a mix of definite, often quantifiable changes, and complex, qualitative assessment of the subject. It is ideal for those interested in death across time and space and in the rich and growing historiography on the subject.

Long description:

The Routledge History of Death Since 1800 looks at how death has been treated and dealt with in modern history – the history of the past 250 years – in a global context, through a mix of definite, often quantifiable changes and a complex, qualitative assessment of the subject.

The book is divided into three parts, with the first considering major trends in death history and identifying widespread patterns of change and continuity in the material and cultural features of death since 1800. The second part turns to specifically regional experiences, and the third offers more specialized chapters on key topics in the modern history of death. Historical findings and debates feed directly into a current and prospective assessment of death, as many societies transition into patterns of ageing that will further alter the death experience and challenge modern reactions. Thus, a final chapter probes this topic, by way of introducing the links between historical experience and current trajectories, ensuring that the book gives the reader a framework for assessing the ongoing process, as well as an understanding of the past.

Global in focus and linking death to a variety of major developments in modern global history, the volume is ideal for all those interested in the multifaceted history of how death is dealt with in different societies over time and who want access to the rich and growing historiography on the subject.

Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

Table of Contents:

Part 1: General Patterns and Connections  1. Patterns Of Death, 1800-2020: Global Rates And Causes  2. Mass Death During Modern Epidemics: Horrors and Their Consequences  3. Violent Death  4. Suicidology on the Cusp of Modernity: Sociology and Psychiatry in the 19th Century  5. Death-Seeking Turns Political:  A Historical Template For Terrorism  6. Toward a World Without the Death Penalty  7. The Cemetery  8. Death, Commemoration, and the Era Of Total War In Europe  9. The Transformation of Death Discourse: From ‘Taboo’ to ‘Revival’ at the Threshold of the New Millennium  Part 2: Regional Patterns  10. “Why may not man be one day immortal?”: Rethinking Death in the Age of Enlightenment  11. "Now for the Grand Secret:" A History of the Post-Mortem Identity and Heavenly Reunions, 1800-2000  12. Death in Modern North American History  13. Death In Mexico: Image And Reality  14. Death in Modern Japan (1800—2020)  15. Picturing the Dead in Early Twentieth-Century China: Bodies, Burial, and the Photography of the Chinese Red Cross Burial Corps  16. Remaking the Hindu Pyre: Cremation in India since the 1830s  17. Muslim Beliefs About Death; From Classical Formulations To Modern Applications  18. Death in Africa: A History c.1800 to Present Day  19. Rituals Of Death In The Caribbean Diaspora, 1970-: The Immigrant Dilemmas  Part 3: Special Topics  20. Premature Burial and the Mysteries of Death  21. Murdering Mothers and Dutiful Daughters: Infanticide in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Mexico  22. ‘I wish we could have saved him for you’: Australia’s experience of death and bereavement in war, 1914-1918  23. Soviet Cemeteries  24. Death in Modern Film  25. Of Presidential Mausoleums and Politics in Neo-Liberal Zambia, 2008 to 2018  26. Celebrating Creation and Commemorating Life: Ritualizing Pet Death in the U.S. and Japan  27. Hospice: A Way to Die  28. “A Profound Shift In Policy”: The History Of Assisted Suicide  29. Conclusion: Future Trajectories of Death: Speculations and Raising Questions