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New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead
New Orleans Cemeteries depicts the 'cities of the dead' in all their grandeur and decay, their exquisite artisanship and humble memorials, their voluminous historical accounts of the city and undefinable spiritual qualities. The definitive book on a very curious subject, ÒNew Orleans CemeteriesÓ is as intensely visual as it is informative.
211 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 6, 2019
The pictures are nice and some information on burial rights is great to. A good book if you plan on going to New Orleans.
March 8, 2011
Jammed with photographs and packed with fascinating information, this coffee-table book takes a seldom-seen perspective on graveyards. It doesn't in any sense skimp on the history of the New Orleans dead, nor does it neglect the craftsmanship of the city's memorials -- but looks instead into the relationships the living maintain with their predecessors.
The relationships between the living and cemeteries has long fascinated me. In Death's Garden, I collected together essays on how the living visit, use, maintain or neglect, and generally interact with the dead in their communities. Florence here focuses on similar relationships with the graveyards in and around the city, stretching out to include the Fleming Cemetery of Bayou Barataria.
Florence's subjects range from the Day of the Dead celebrations in Louisiana, to the traditions of decorating graves on birthdays and other occasions, as well as visiting one's ancestors just to gossip or serenade. At first I felt the chapters highlighting the living decorators or musicians were perhaps too intimate, probing too close to the losses these subjects had suffered, but in retrospect, I think it's good to focus on the survivors. Too often in my own work, I've focused on the tragedies suffered by the dead, who are clearly past feeling them.
Florence is wise, I think, to choose these examples and show how we all could benefit from growing closer to the dead in our communities. He quite rightly points out that without a connection -- or a use -- for the neighborhood graveyard, the memorials become neglected, vandalized, and before long, an important historical monument is forever lost. New Orleans has its Save Our Cemeteries organization, but most communities are not that lucky. I hope Florence inspires his readers to become involved in cemetery preservation, whatever their reasons.
Florence is the author of the City of the Dead booklet on St. Louis Cemetery #1 (which I'll review soon). While that booklet is absolutely required for anyone interested in graveyards, New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead provides a valuable perspective that is too rarely found anywhere else. In addition, Mason Florence's beautiful photographs—both in color and infrared—stand up against any others in your collection. Very recommended.
The relationships between the living and cemeteries has long fascinated me. In Death's Garden, I collected together essays on how the living visit, use, maintain or neglect, and generally interact with the dead in their communities. Florence here focuses on similar relationships with the graveyards in and around the city, stretching out to include the Fleming Cemetery of Bayou Barataria.
Florence's subjects range from the Day of the Dead celebrations in Louisiana, to the traditions of decorating graves on birthdays and other occasions, as well as visiting one's ancestors just to gossip or serenade. At first I felt the chapters highlighting the living decorators or musicians were perhaps too intimate, probing too close to the losses these subjects had suffered, but in retrospect, I think it's good to focus on the survivors. Too often in my own work, I've focused on the tragedies suffered by the dead, who are clearly past feeling them.
Florence is wise, I think, to choose these examples and show how we all could benefit from growing closer to the dead in our communities. He quite rightly points out that without a connection -- or a use -- for the neighborhood graveyard, the memorials become neglected, vandalized, and before long, an important historical monument is forever lost. New Orleans has its Save Our Cemeteries organization, but most communities are not that lucky. I hope Florence inspires his readers to become involved in cemetery preservation, whatever their reasons.
Florence is the author of the City of the Dead booklet on St. Louis Cemetery #1 (which I'll review soon). While that booklet is absolutely required for anyone interested in graveyards, New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead provides a valuable perspective that is too rarely found anywhere else. In addition, Mason Florence's beautiful photographs—both in color and infrared—stand up against any others in your collection. Very recommended.
September 14, 2014
The Cities of the Dead can provide valuable insights into the cities of the living. This can be said about a lot of places – I recall wandering the cemetary of my hometown, and the one in Salem Massachusetts, just to cite two examples. However, probably nowhere in the world is this as true as in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Robert Florence, along with his photographer brother Mason, attempted to provide some insight into the history of New Orleans by exploring its unique cemeteries. Their architecture, their rules, the sometimes unique “neighbors”, and the times when the various cemeteries were established, all contribute to telling the story of the much larger city built by and for the living. This is augmented by offering a few sidebars into some of the characters that might be found loitering in and around the cemeteries – perhaps helping to maintain the structures, perhaps begging, perhaps communing with spirits only they can see …
This is a very nicely produced coffee table book, with more prose than is often found in such a publication. Somewhat difficult to pack and read on an airplane, perhaps, but beautiful to be displayed at the home – and yes, read and examined.
Postscript: I acquired this book in 2001. I have to wonder just what effects Hurricane Katrina may have had on the cemeteries of New Orleans since publication.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars. Going to round up to 5 stars on this one.
Robert Florence, along with his photographer brother Mason, attempted to provide some insight into the history of New Orleans by exploring its unique cemeteries. Their architecture, their rules, the sometimes unique “neighbors”, and the times when the various cemeteries were established, all contribute to telling the story of the much larger city built by and for the living. This is augmented by offering a few sidebars into some of the characters that might be found loitering in and around the cemeteries – perhaps helping to maintain the structures, perhaps begging, perhaps communing with spirits only they can see …
This is a very nicely produced coffee table book, with more prose than is often found in such a publication. Somewhat difficult to pack and read on an airplane, perhaps, but beautiful to be displayed at the home – and yes, read and examined.
Postscript: I acquired this book in 2001. I have to wonder just what effects Hurricane Katrina may have had on the cemeteries of New Orleans since publication.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars. Going to round up to 5 stars on this one.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews