American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the Twenty-First Century

by Shannon Lee Dawdy

A mesmerizing trip across America to investigate the changing face of death in contemporary life

Death in the United States is undergoing a quiet revolution. You can have your body frozen, dissected, composted, dissolved, or tanned. Your family can incorporate your remains into jewelry, shotgun shells, paperweights, and artwork. Cremations have more than doubled, and DIY home funerals and green burials are on the rise. American Afterlives is Shannon Lee Dawdy’s lyrical and compassionate account of changing death practices in America as people face their own mortality and search for a different kind of afterlife.

As an anthropologist and archaeologist, Dawdy knows that how a society treats its dead yields powerful clues about its beliefs and values. As someone who has experienced loss herself, she knows there is no way to tell this story without also reexamining her own views about death and dying. In this meditative and gently humorous book, Dawdy embarks on a transformative journey across the United States, talking to funeral directors, death-care entrepreneurs, designers, cemetery owners, death doulas, and ordinary people from all walks of life. What she discovers is that, by reinventing death, Americans are reworking their ideas about personhood, ritual, and connection across generations. She also confronts the seeming contradiction that American death is becoming at the same time more materialistic and more spiritual.

Written in conjunction with a documentary film project, American Afterlives features images by cinematographer Daniel Zox that provide their own testament to our rapidly changing attitudes toward death and the afterlife.

Genres: Nonfiction, Death, Audiobook, Sociology, Anthropology, American History, Journalism

272 pages, Hardcover

Published October 19, 2021

Reviews

[Audrey Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dawdy shares her experience of exploring American perspectives of death, afterlife, and death care through a wide variety of interviews and visits to death care facilities, through the lens of academic death industry perspectives and an anthropological background. Her experience as an archeologist gives this a unique twist that brings a wider perspective to the question of what leaving remains behind means for the future. Brave, honest, and endlessly interesting, American Afterlives is a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the current death culture in the U.S.

[Algernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Death may be thought of as a journey, a transformation or simply a hard stop to existence. In any case, it will happen to us, and before it does we get to practice saying goodbye to others, including those we love.

Increasingly, Americans are formalizing their goodbyes with individually tailored ceremonies and rituals, independently of any shared cultural tradition. The innovations extend to the handling of the deceased’s remains as well.

This work presents years of research into the ceremonies and rituals through which Americans process death, in the form of a personal narrative rather than an academic work. Dawdy, an anthropologist and archaeologist, includes her own experiences and questions about death, body and soul.

Dawdy concludes that the relationship between enterprise and individualist approaches to spiritualism, is much more than “the Starbucks phase” of death ritual. She detects a hunger for personally significant rites and a desire either to connect with a shared tradition or to create new remembrances and therapeutic rites of passage.

“Consumer choice has become something more than taste,” she argues, in support of invented ritual. “It is an act of self-determination that carries over into their afterlife.”

Paradoxically, perhaps, Dawdy suggests the uniquely American, individualist “have it your own way” approach to mortuary practices may be leading to a greater sense of a shared connection to an Earth that outlives all nations and empires.

"American Afterlives" is also a personable book notable for its affection for life, the richness of American culture and the brief, baffling experience of living as a human.

(NOTE: This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for the Las Cruces Sun-News, appearing 14 November 2021.)

[Mari Yoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Dawdy's American Afterlives was such a rewarding experience. This book was assigned for a college course of mine and it immediately clicked with me. As an enthusiast about death, Dawdy sheds a highly compassionate (yet still critical) light upon evolving death practices in the US. This includes looking into the far past to see how early settlers handled their dead, how people of various races/religions/classes today wish to be cared for after death, and how our practices might look in the future. Using personal anecdotes, interviews from a wide range of professionals (ex. people who make custom urns, turn ashes into art, etc.), and her background in archaeological research, Dawdy infuses the difficult nature of death with humor and kindness to create something truly special.

[Pandaduh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book back in Nov. of 2022 but never reviewed it. What I said about it at the time was:

"This book convinced me that embalming is ridiculous except for rare occasions so please burn me as is. 🚫⚰🚫"

I think I have since changed my mind a little, but I did like it's exploration in to denying the "death denial thesis" The author calls Americans "neo-Egyptians" due to some of our practices, which I thought was kind of cool.

[Vince · Rating 4 out of 5]

American death rituals are changing—and along with them, our views on mortality and what it means to live and die well. This short work of entertaining anthropology gives us a fresh window into our worldviews by showing us the many ways that Americans are choosing to honor their loved ones, and how these views reflect a sea change over the past 200 years.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my professors recommended this book to me after a discussion on funerary practices and I am incredibly glad that he did. It was an incredibly informative read and it has certainly given me new things to consider about how Americans face their own mortality. I cannot recommend this enough.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for work -- but finished every page because it's an interesting read. Made me think differently about death, burial and the different cultural factors driving our most final, most personal decisions.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative, non-judgmental, and interesting look at some of the practices people choose for their own and others' bodies after death, as well as the rituals they use to mourn.

[Jan Mc]

Unfinished, unrated. 9 August 2023

[Cynthia Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 read.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Excellent!

[Bethany G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating reflections and interviews on how modern Americans deal with death.

[Vi]

I was too Marxist for this.

[Zhuo Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hope we all find a way to "preserve" our beloved and keep ourselves "be preserved"

[Thomas May · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! The coming decades will bring so many options for our remains as long as the politicians get out of the way!

[SandersonLover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good perspective on how Americans view death and what to do with the remains. The evolution of the death care industry and a bit how they are evolving.