American afterlives : reinventing death in the twenty-first century / Shannon Lee Dawdy ; with images by Daniel Zox.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Hole -- Flesh -- Bones -- Dirt -- Spirit -- Epilogue.

"What do you think happens to you when you die? And what do you want done with your body? For three years Shannon Lee Dawdy travelled the U.S., from Vermont to California, Illinois to Alabama, posing such questions to a wide range of people from all walks of life. Many of her interlocutors recently lost loved ones. She also spoke to people who have made death their business: funeral directors, death care entrepreneurs, designers, cemetery owners, and death doulas about the changes they were seeing, and in many cases promoting, in how the bodies of recently-deceased persons are being treated, and how the memory of the deceased are being memorialized, in the U.S. Her ethnographic research resulted in this book, a wide-ranging investigation into rapidly-changing death practices in the twenty-first century United States. The author is also working on a documentary film project on this topic with cinematographer Daniel Zox. Still photos from the film work will appear in this book"-- Provided by publisher.