Cool, it goes into different cultures and how people dealt with burying over the years. Nice for those who have an interest in this process.

A little of a "dry" read, but super interesting none the less. It tackles some heavy subjects that could possibly upset people, so beware of that. In my opinion, I think this book lends itself more to periodic reading, then one you would pick up and read as you would a fictional book. I like to call these types of books "bathroom books" 😂

I think I had a very different idea about what this book was all about because I did not envision such a scholarly tome. It was clearly meticulously researched and offers very detailed facts.  I found it difficult to follow because it seemed to jump around between time periods.  I am providing this review because I was allowed early access to this book through Net Galley - but I will admit I did not finish the book and what I did read was just skimming chapters to see if there was anything interesting.  I think this is probably an excellent book but just not for me and possibly the audience is more academic than general population.

Thanks to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this book when I first started reading it. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I consider myself a death scholar. I won the Thomas Reid prize in 2020 for my book collection related to death and burial practices and am currently undergoing my Masters Degree with a focus on Ancient Funerary Practices in Greece and Rome so I don't feel too out of place saying that I know some stuff on this topic.

The book is written in quite a haphazard way. It jumps about from topic to topic and there isn't always a coherent structure to the paragraphs or chapters. A bit of editing might have helped it out but I didn't find anything to make the book unreadable. I genuinely looked forward to picking up my kindle to read it.

However, I felt that the sheer range of topics covered was really ambitious and not necessarily in a bad way. If the book was touting itself as some impeccably researched academic text I might be a bit miffed but it falls firmly into the popular history/culture camp and in that sense provides a great starting point for anyone wanting to dip in and out of the subject. I didn't personally learn anything new but I think any layman or new researcher who is just starting to dip their toes into the subject will be provided with a good starting point.

It was really cool to see examples from my neck of the woods too (the Black Isle).

Although the topic is both fascinating and well researched within the text, for a public library I have to say this particular book wouldn't fit. 

I think that the text would do very well in an academic library or a private library.

Burying the Dead by Lorraine Evans was an advanced reader copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book. I took multiple forensic anthropology classes in college and I wish we had used this book. Wonderful in-depth reading about burying practices from all over the world and time. I wish I was still in contact with my forensic anthropology teacher as I would have recommended it to her. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about funerary practices and our history of burials.

I received this book in exchange for a review. 

This ended up being better than I thought it would be. The author goes through various burial rites for many countries and religions. She also talks about cemeteries and how they came to be and where they are headed. 
I only gave it four stars because the first half of chapter one seemed so incredibly slow. But once I got into it I thought it was informative and written very well. 
My favorite chapter of the book deals with how cemeteries are changing. It made me think and as someone who does genealogy it was great to read.

trigger warning
<spoiler> genocide, death by fire, lethal illnesses, child death </spoiler>

Normally, I'd start the review with an overview of the content, but I see neither rhyme nor reason. It's weird and notable facts concerning remains of humans, animals and vehicles. 
We start with pagan funerary rites, largely concentrating on the United Kingdom, go over to church burials and noting when we have what confirmed through archaeological work.

There's a gruesome chapter about mass graves, focussing on death through pandemics, famine and genocide. The chapter about war cemeteries is mostly a really long list of cemeteries for soldiers, and again, mostly focussed on British dealings.

The last chapter was the most interesting to me, about how different nations tackle the issue of running out of space for gravesides, and new methods of storing mortal remains.

We have footnotes, but not as many as I'd have like. There is no question if I could use this for uni, I'd rather not. If you're looking for fun facts, this includes a lot. Some parts are more entertaining or more informatory than others.

But please, don't apologise for puns. 

The arc was provided by the publisher.

A good summary of the burial/funeral practices across the world. The book could use a bit more editing as some of the paragraphs and chapters were quite long. This is not an in depth analysis but more of an introduction to the topic for the general public.

For anyone with a casual, or not so casual interest, in funerary trends this book is well worth getting. It has an easy to read style and isn't heavy of any technical archaeological terms that would perhaps put some people off.  It doesn't go into huge depth and is fairly short so I'd consider this starting off point for any research someone wanted to do. I enjoyed its wide range of locations across the world and description of different methods of burial. I was a little afraid it would read like a dense textbook but it doesn't fall into this trap, being approachable and interesting. I would have welcomed a more in depth study of some of the locations, but that may have then fallen into the density trap. 

I liked the description of the temple where the 47 Ronin are, having visited it myself and I found it to be a spiritual and humbling place to be despite being in an urban area.  I also enjoyed the nice surprise of the inclusion of Meg Shelton's stone because I reviewed The Witching Stone, a teen novel with that stone as a central plot point.  If I was being really picky I perhaps would have liked a few more photographs spread throughout instead of in one group, but that's super picky and the single group is normal for many of these books.

You'd probably have to be interested in the subject, of course, but I can see this appealing to a wide range of people. It deserves to do well, and I hope it does.

First off I want to say huge  thank you to the publisher Pen & Sword , the author Lorraine Evans and to NetGalley for letting me request it as well as letting me read and review it, because as soon as I saw it on NetGalley I was like yes please because I love reading anything that deals with Archaeological History. And this book was everything I was hoping it would be , it was well researched and written, it was a gripping read from start to finish, and while it might not be for everyone, its perfect for the ones who love this type of book. It goes into detail of the types of burial as well as the history and the author has a way of bring it to life.

3.5

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

An interesting book all about -- you guessed it -- burying the dead. Not just a historical view of how it's changed over the centuries, but also about different situations where the dead can be buried. Water burials, more common trends now, mass pits due to plagues or genocides, etc. I thought it was a solid read on the topic. Didn't always engage me, but it's still an interesting topic to learn about since there are so many ways that it's done.

What was this book??? I have no idea of the audience here. It is often (and importantly so at the beginning) too academic for those who like popular history or archaeology. The information is too basic for experts and not focused enough for use in any kind of classroom, even in excerpted form. 

So this focus thing, it's part of another problem. A huge problem with the writing. The biggest issue is that it seems stream of consciousness. There is no organization or really rhyme or reason here. The occasional transition is attempted, but in a conversational style that does not work on the page, as I tell my undergraduate college students regularly. Before 20% on the ebook I was already wondering how much was left. With a physical book I would have been constantly flipping back or putting a bookmark in the last page so I could see it drawing near. Mercifully, it was at least short. It felt like copy and paste from a popular history personality on social media, with the occasional full length blog post. Those things are great for that forum, and a fun dive for the day, but lined up are incredibly tedious. There were what amounted to ads for different burial options. Historical snippets throughout time and space and across the globe.

But there are many other large issues. The Eurocentrism and imperial perspective is insidious. This does not just come up when talking about imperial spaces, like a conversation about WWII Dutch remains in Indonesian waters, but is woven throughout. The book is loosely organized into "the pagan way," churchyards, and cemeteries. "The pagan way" is the entirety of time, space, and cultures except Christian, Jewish, and the occasional nod to Muslim. Hindu seems to not be included here at least, but everything from 4th century Britain to modern Oceania is dumped together. Britain is central, which is understandable from a British archaeology PhD candidate, but should be more blatantly presented as a distinct focus. Because of the organization, and possibly the author's biases, premodern beliefs are deprecated, and modern "pagan" practices are given the same tinge. Notably, the author's specialty - ancient Egypt - does not appear here. Churchyards and cemeteries provide a rough chronological transition, in Europe, which seems to explain those categories. 

I debated on two stars because there is a wide range of interesting discussions to be had from this material. But the problems are just too much, and I would actively discourage anyone from reading it. There are better options. Or find someone fun to follow on social media for similar content with better presentation. 

Thank you to Lorraine Evans, Pen and Sword Books, and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I am sorry it wasn't more positive.

If, like me, you haven't really given much thought to burials, then this book will be a real eye-opener. "Burying the Dead" is a fascinating exploration of (as the subtitle says) burial grounds, graveyards, and cemeteries - and who knew there were so many different types? Lorraine Evans writes with a skill that gives each burial mentioned a sense of dignity and respect, which is hugely impressive. One for the reference bookshelf.
 
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Funerary customs are a subject close to my heart, so Burying the Dead was a delicious prospect. In many ways, it didn't disappoint; there's lots of information here, much of which I was previously unaware of (and I'm pretty widely read on the topic). Vast in scope, it begins with the burial rites of early humans, although it does focus primarily on UK sites. It's also exhaustively researched and impressive in detail.

The issue here is that it's not what you'd call a lively read (no pun intended). Indeed, the information is presented in an incredibly dry manner which after a while becomes a tad grating, even dull, which is a great shame considering the subject matter is anything but. It reads much like a text book, which is fine, if it's a text book you're after. Entertaining, this is not - however, facts are presented in an uncluttered way, uncoloured by the author's voice, which may appeal to some. It's not an ideal introduction to the to the topic, either - there are other, livelier books out there which would suit the newcomer better. 

Not without its merits by any means, this is a book for serious deadheads only.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A  summary of burial practice across the world  and archaelogical digs. This book was well researched but alas the writting was dry and exactly like a textbook.  Paragraphs that go on for pages and pages showed the need perhaps for help in the structure and grammar.

*This book was received as an Advanced Copy from NetGalley.

I think a lot of the bigger questions people have surround death.  Not just what happens after; but the various customs, methods, and mysteries that surround the physical what happens after.  For instance, this book seeks to tell a history of graveyards, cemeteries, burial grounds, and other methods for the disposal of human beings.

Scoping through history, Evans takes us to the various ways people have been buried throughout time.  Such as those that were considered deviant (vampires eh?), mass graves resulting from plague or war, the graveyards of non-humans (planes, trains, and tanks), and even some of the more modern ways of body disposal (water 'cremation' and tree planting).  

While I found the book interesting in the subject matter, I did have trouble getting through it and though it was dry.  At one point, cemeteries were being listed with decor and people buried in it (few I had heard of) and the fact recitation got a bit tedious.  While this would be a good book for research, it just doesn't lend itself as well to reading for the fun of it.  

Still, if you ever wanted to know some of the lesser known facts surrounding burial, this is a good place to start.

Review by M. Reynard 2020

The first thing you should know going into this book is that is largely centered on UK sites, branching out into parts of Europe, and very occasionally to Africa and the Americas. 

The first two chapters cover older burial customs and archaeological digs, styles of tombs, such as boat graves and charnel houses. This is followed by a chapter on "deviant" burials, a fascinating look at the burials of criminals, pirates, lepers, prostitutes, and those feared to be witches or vampires or both.  After this are chapters on mass graves due to famine, plague, war, and genocide (a particularly hard chapter to read), on burial at sea, non-organic graveyards (the final resting places of planes, trains, and automobiles), on slightly more modern burial grounds (referencing, to my delight, Lafayette Cemetery in New Orleans and Anne Rice's use of the local in The Vampire Chronicles), on pet cemeteries, on war memorials, and finally a chapter on modern alternative funerary and burial practices. 

Good stuff, yes? The subject matter is fascinating, but the presentation is problematic. Evans is clearly not a writer. There is little story here, the book is mostly paragraph after paragraph (and some paragraphs last for THREE pages)listing names, dates, and locales.  This is fine enough, I suppose, for a textbook, but as a social history it is dry.  I wish Ms Evans would have hired a ghost writer to help her out and make her informative book more user friendly. It would have made all the difference in the world. 


In the end the style made a five star subject drop down to three stars.
.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fascinating look into a somewhat macabre, but deeply interesting subject.  Well researched and written in lively, accessible language.

A really well written summary of burial practice across the world and chronologically. I particularly love the section on metal boneyards, train planes and automobiles left to rot in quiet corners of the world.
This will a great introduction for the general public and those studying Anthropology and Archeology for the first time.