Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America

by Stephen Prothero

Just one hundred years ago, Americans almost universally condemned cremation. Today, nearly one-quarter of Americans choose to be cremated. The practice has gained wide acceptance as a funeral rite, in both our private and public lives, as the cremations of icons such as John Lennon and John F. Kennedy Jr. show. Purified by Fire tells the fascinating story of cremation's rise from notoriety to legitimacy and takes a provocative new look at important transformations in the American cultural landscape over the last 150 years.

Stephen Prothero synthesizes a wide array of previously untapped source material, including newspapers, consumer guides, mortician trade journals, and popular magazines such as Reader's Digest to provide this first historical study of cremation in the United States. He vividly describes many noteworthy events―from the much-criticized first American cremation in 1876 to the death and cremation of Jerry Garcia in the late twentieth century. From the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era to the baby boomers of today, this book takes us on a tour through American culture and traces our changing attitudes toward death, religion, public health, the body, and the environment.

Genres: History, Death, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Stephen Prothero is a professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University and the author of numerous books, most recently Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn't and American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Idol. He has commented on religion on dozens of National Public Radio programs and on television on CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, MSNBC and Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. A regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, he has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Salon.com, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

Prothero has argued for mandatory public school Bible literacy courses (along the lines of the Bible Literacy Project's The Bible and Its Influence), along with mandatory courses on world religions. Prothero defines himself as a "confused Christian".

Reviews

[Natalie Lynner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting story of how cremation gained favor in America.

[Sevenponds · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to Stephen Prothero, we are Purified by Fire, as cremation has become the choice of disposition for the modern person. The scattering of cremation ashes represents a willingness to comingle our bodies, and those of our loved ones, back into the world, with no need for a symbol of permanence. Prothero muses that we are “embracing a new style of ritual, characterized by simplicity, spontaneity, informality, flexibility, improvisation, participation, and (above all) personalization.” CANA statistics support this; the U.S. cremation rate is at 40% and continues to rise as scattering spreads across the nation.

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