| View Larger Image | Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial | Paperbackby Mark Harris (Author)
| List Price: | $15.00 | | Price: | $11.70 | | You Save: | $3.30 (22%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Scribner | | Edition: | Reprintth Edition | | Page Count: | 224 Pages | | Publication Date: | December 09, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 147,011th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9781416564041
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
By the time Nate Fisher was laid to rest in a woodland grave sans coffin in the final season of Six Feet Under, Americans all across the country were starting to look outside the box when death came calling.Grave Matters follows families who found in "green" burial a more natural, more economic, and ultimately more meaningful alternative to the tired and toxic send-off on offer at the local funeral parlor.Eschewing chemical embalming and fancy caskets, elaborate and costly funerals, they have embraced a range of natural options, new and old, that are redefining a better American way of death. Environmental journalist Mark Harris examines this new green burial underground, leading you into natural cemeteries and domestic graveyards, taking you aboard boats from which ashes and memorial "reef balls" are cast into the sea. He follows a family that conducts a home funeral, one that delivers a loved one to the crematory, and another that hires a carpenter to build a pine coffin.In the morbidly fascinating tradition of Stiff, Grave Matters details the embalming process and the environmental aftermath of the standard funeral. Harris also traces the history of burial in America, from frontier cemeteries to the billion-dollar business it is today, reporting on real families who opted for more simple, natural returns.For readers who want to follow the examples of these families and, literally, give back from the grave, appendices detail everything you need to know, from exact costs and laws to natural burial providers and their contact information. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 14 reviews)
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Great book... by The Princess & The Pea  5 Stars
April 10, 2009
but such a harsh dose of reality! It is nauseating. Don't try to eat while reading this very information, graphic and necessary reading. Should be mandatory to all families...
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A "Green" Approach to Caring for the Dead ... by Kevin Quinley (Fairfax, VA) 5 Stars
January 24, 2009
Author Mark Harris is no muckraker. He is not out to one-up Jessica Mitford's "The American Way of Death" or to pillory the American funeral industry. Nevertheless, he makes a compelling and convincing case for "green" funerals and a more natural approach to burials. He looks anew at what we now consider the "traditional" funeral service which is relatively recent, dating back only about 150 years.
The amount of resources, space and money consumed by the funeral industry is daunting. The chemicals released into the environment through embalming and cremation are not insignificant. Harris re-examines a wide gamut of funeral practices, extending to burial at sea, memorial offshore reefs, home funerals, plain pine boxes, backyard burials and "natural" cemeteries.
Modern man's unease with the taboo topic of death has outsourced and pushed away the experience of caring for the dead from homes to outside undertakers and funeral parlors. Harris suggests that something has been lost in this transition. He is no tree hugger and does not come off as a zealot.
"Grave Matters" may trigger a thoughtful epiphany to the topic of end of life planning, offering new perspectives and alternatives in ways of dealing with our post-life bodies in ways that harmonize with our physical environment.
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superb discussion of alternative destinations by Alton Ryder (New Hampshire) 5 Stars
July 03, 2008
Valuable both for individuals contemplating alternatives and for cemetery managers like myself thinking of establishing a green cemetery.
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Illuminating by jordan (Portland, OR USA) 5 Stars
March 13, 2008
What a great book, really well done. Mark Harris has written a concise but very informational book on alternative options to the traditional method of caring for the dead. I've been uncomfortable with this method since I was a pre-teen and attended my first funeral, for an uncle who died of cancer in his early 20s. It seemed so strange to me, the artifical blush of his face against the voluptuous bedding in the enormously ornate and polished coffin. It seemed so removed from him, his life, and who he was. The actual burial place seemed removed as well, very sterile and manicured, the standard level emerald green lawn with no understory, trees, and little wildlife. I juxtapose this method with the natural burial method in the last chapter of this book and I'm blown away at how different it can be. Mark Harris has done a fine job of illuminating the realities of the funeral business today in a non-confrontational manner, without sarcasm or a posturing. I appreciate the description of the alternatives in under 200 pages; so many authors these days feel it necessary to expand on a topic ad nauseum for 500-600 pages. This book isn't perfect; there are a few contradictions in the summaries at the end of each chapter when he compares state requirements and Harris doesn't really address the high costs of burial at some of the natural cemetaries (the ones in California come to mind), which is only fair after he extensively discusses the costs of traditional funerals. But these are minor issues with an overall excellent book. Highly recommended.
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A Great Book on a Difficult Subject.. by R.Brian Burkhardt (IL, USA) 5 Stars
December 20, 2007
These pages do the human race a great service. Every Funeral Director needs to read this book. Death is not a pleasant subject. This book is more than worth the price. Everyone has trouble thinking about grave matters. Just as cremation came to America, so comes the green funeral. This book is the future in Funerals, it is well thought out, researched and well written. Practical How to tips are in the back of each chapter. Everyone needs to read these tips. Everyone! Great work, Mark Harris.
Funeral Directors please read this book with an open mind. Personally, I have found this book helpful in my work with families in the Funeral Profession.
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