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American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the Twenty-First Century
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.
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.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published October 19, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 16, 2026
I had such a nice time reading this book about death?
Most of these community practices are more for survivors than the deceased and I'm glad so many options and feelings were explored.
Most of these community practices are more for survivors than the deceased and I'm glad so many options and feelings were explored.
August 23, 2026
Great topic, poorly executed: 2.5 stars.
I really expected to love this book... but I found it disappointing and even frustrating at times. I should acknowledge that it's really difficult to write a book about changing cultural landscapes at the very beginning of them changing. It's almost bound to be out of date pretty immediately. It's a difficult task. I wonder why she didn't wait a few years to see how Covid would actually impact death culture.
The book seems to be grounded in refuting an argument rather than making one. The author gets really stuck on this idea of Americans being afraid or avoidant of death... but she doesn't directly and accurately represent what exactly that argument is or why some (it's not even a dominant theory) make this claim. In other to dispute something, you need to show how you understand it. She made lots of great points, but they just seemed to be working towards this same goal, and I had a hard time understanding why it was important. She also seems to change her definition of what she means by this "common claim," sometimes contradicting things she had said in previous paragraphs or chapters. The best original arguments are in the last 30 pages, and I wish she had expanded on those great ideas!
Overall, there was a lot of generalization and little evidence or detailed analysis. Pretty much every assumption the author makes about the Victorian period is oversimplified, leaning towards inaccurate. And it did not add to her point.
I was surprised that this was from a university press as I found the citations and source material very sparse. Instead, the author relies on generalization (ex: "some experts claim this..." yeah, who are they? Where do they claim this? What do they actually say. No endnote.). In addition to the research being light, it was also a little out of date, even for when the book was published, leading to misleading statements. For example, the mushroom suit had been debunked around then, but she doesn't talk about that or why the website might have gone dark. There was work on "green washing" already being done circa 2018/2019, which is an important omission, particularly when she starts talking about consumer culture and choice. So much great potential, but it just never gets there!
I really expected to love this book... but I found it disappointing and even frustrating at times. I should acknowledge that it's really difficult to write a book about changing cultural landscapes at the very beginning of them changing. It's almost bound to be out of date pretty immediately. It's a difficult task. I wonder why she didn't wait a few years to see how Covid would actually impact death culture.
The book seems to be grounded in refuting an argument rather than making one. The author gets really stuck on this idea of Americans being afraid or avoidant of death... but she doesn't directly and accurately represent what exactly that argument is or why some (it's not even a dominant theory) make this claim. In other to dispute something, you need to show how you understand it. She made lots of great points, but they just seemed to be working towards this same goal, and I had a hard time understanding why it was important. She also seems to change her definition of what she means by this "common claim," sometimes contradicting things she had said in previous paragraphs or chapters. The best original arguments are in the last 30 pages, and I wish she had expanded on those great ideas!
Overall, there was a lot of generalization and little evidence or detailed analysis. Pretty much every assumption the author makes about the Victorian period is oversimplified, leaning towards inaccurate. And it did not add to her point.
I was surprised that this was from a university press as I found the citations and source material very sparse. Instead, the author relies on generalization (ex: "some experts claim this..." yeah, who are they? Where do they claim this? What do they actually say. No endnote.). In addition to the research being light, it was also a little out of date, even for when the book was published, leading to misleading statements. For example, the mushroom suit had been debunked around then, but she doesn't talk about that or why the website might have gone dark. There was work on "green washing" already being done circa 2018/2019, which is an important omission, particularly when she starts talking about consumer culture and choice. So much great potential, but it just never gets there!
July 13, 2024
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.
July 10, 2026
3.9 stars, I did really enjoy it but I can’t give it 4 stars because the entire first QUARTER of the book was an introductory/chapter 1/prologue situation in which we got a lot of “in this book I will discuss” and “here’s a teaser to this idea… but you’ll hear more about it later” and “oh gosh you guys I really hope I did this justice and you all like my book!”
After that it became enjoyable
After that it became enjoyable
July 29, 2026
An engaging nonfiction account of U.S. funerary practices -- and to a lesser extent beliefs about the afterlife -- and how they've been changing since the turn of the century. Coinciding with the rise in people identifying as "spiritual but not religious," there remains a widespread sentiment that the death of a loved one ought to be marked by some sort of sacred ritual or custom, but without any clear cultural consensus on what exactly that looks like, leading to a fragmented landscape of individualized approaches. The industry today is teeming with memorialization options as never before, from eco-friendly burials that utilize biodegradable materials for natural decomposition to so-called "extreme" embalming -- which involves posing the deceased in a lifelike scenario -- to incorporating cremains into tattoo ink and beyond, not all of which are officially sanctioned by the relevant local laws. Instructions regarding such preferences are increasingly getting written into wills as well, reflecting a growing conviction that one's transition from this life should be more personalized and less prepackaged (though the folks marketing the different choices are still ultimately behind the available menu, of course).
I've found this survey to be interesting but somewhat surface-level, raising questions but doing little to pursue them and including the kind of digressions into the author's own background and experiences that I rarely think improve a text. I'm left wanting to know more about why this country developed a unique culture around funerals in the first place (heavier on embalming and open caskets than other nations, apparently), and why 9/11 seems to have been an inflection point for that monoculture breaking apart. I also join the writer in wondering whether the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic will upend the situation further, although that wasn't a trend she could especially follow up on for a book published in 2021. Given all that, I've landed on a three-star rating for this title overall, though I would still recommend it for anyone interested in the subject.
Like this review? Find more of my writing on:
--https://www.goodreads.com/lesserjoke
--https://letterboxd.com/lesserjoke
--https://lesserjoke.home.blog
Or check out these ways to support me, if you'd like:
--https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
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I've found this survey to be interesting but somewhat surface-level, raising questions but doing little to pursue them and including the kind of digressions into the author's own background and experiences that I rarely think improve a text. I'm left wanting to know more about why this country developed a unique culture around funerals in the first place (heavier on embalming and open caskets than other nations, apparently), and why 9/11 seems to have been an inflection point for that monoculture breaking apart. I also join the writer in wondering whether the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic will upend the situation further, although that wasn't a trend she could especially follow up on for a book published in 2021. Given all that, I've landed on a three-star rating for this title overall, though I would still recommend it for anyone interested in the subject.
Like this review? Find more of my writing on:
--https://www.goodreads.com/lesserjoke
--https://letterboxd.com/lesserjoke
--https://lesserjoke.home.blog
Or check out these ways to support me, if you'd like:
--https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
November 14, 2021
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.)
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.)
August 26, 2026
3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars.
In American Afterlives, the author is exploring American's previous and current relationship to death rituals and the impacts of these changes. The main through line of this book is examining whether or not Americans are death denying and how this impacts death rituals. Because of this thread, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is new to learning about death rituals or who just wants to learn facts related to the rituals and culture. If someone already know a baseline about the rituals and wants to learn more about Dawdy's perspective of death denial in America, then I would suggest this book.
The way the book was organized at times was not my favorite, and it definitely came across as almost an argumentative essay or journal article at times. Even with these few issues I had with the book, I still enjoyed reading it.
In American Afterlives, the author is exploring American's previous and current relationship to death rituals and the impacts of these changes. The main through line of this book is examining whether or not Americans are death denying and how this impacts death rituals. Because of this thread, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is new to learning about death rituals or who just wants to learn facts related to the rituals and culture. If someone already know a baseline about the rituals and wants to learn more about Dawdy's perspective of death denial in America, then I would suggest this book.
The way the book was organized at times was not my favorite, and it definitely came across as almost an argumentative essay or journal article at times. Even with these few issues I had with the book, I still enjoyed reading it.
April 26, 2022
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.
April 29, 2026
While I did enjoy reading this book, I read it almost right after finishing "All the Living and the Dead" by Hayley Campbell, so not a whole bunch of information here was new to me. I did really like the candid interviews with folks both in and out of the death industry (while it did make me want to fight the guy promoting using AI and augmented reality in funeral services, GROSS).
I do think that this book could have been broken into more specific chapters or just had none at all, though, because Dawdy was a little all over the place with her thoughts. It didn't really impact my reading experience, but I can see how it could be hard to follow for some!
I do think that this book could have been broken into more specific chapters or just had none at all, though, because Dawdy was a little all over the place with her thoughts. It didn't really impact my reading experience, but I can see how it could be hard to follow for some!
August 29, 2026
Interesting recap of changing death practices in America, and I enjoyed the nuances I learned about “green” burials. I had a little bit of a hard time following all of the author’s arguments, maybe because I was listening to it. She seemed to refute the idea that Americans are in death denial, and that having 40 different ways to deal with your remains does not mean we don’t have a national approach to death anymore, but I can’t seem to remember what her main argument was for what Americans DO have as a postmortem culture today.
August 6, 2024
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.
"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.
February 25, 2024
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.
January 26, 2022
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.
August 8, 2024
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.
August 25, 2026
Morbidly Curious Book Club August 2026
Fascinating read in the evolution to the rituals/ideas we have when dealing with death and how we perceive the after-life. Such a diverse look into so many ways we can mourn/celebrate our loved ones.
Fascinating read in the evolution to the rituals/ideas we have when dealing with death and how we perceive the after-life. Such a diverse look into so many ways we can mourn/celebrate our loved ones.
July 10, 2023
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.
Read
August 23, 2023Unfinished, unrated. 9 August 2023
December 8, 2023
3.5 read.
May 1, 2024
4 stars. Excellent!
August 31, 2024
Fascinating reflections and interviews on how modern Americans deal with death.
Did Not Finish
December 10, 2024I was too Marxist for this.
February 13, 2025
Hope we all find a way to "preserve" our beloved and keep ourselves "be preserved"
May 7, 2025
Fascinating! The coming decades will bring so many options for our remains as long as the politicians get out of the way!
August 1, 2025
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.
March 28, 2026
I found this to be a helpful "broad-brush" view of changing American practices - highlighting both individuals and groups worked well.
August 4, 2026
Very interesting.
August 6, 2026
Really 4.61 ⭐️
I thoroughly enjoyed this incredibly unique exploration of 21st century death culture. Moving through the chapters structured around decomposition felt poetic rather than morbid.
I thoroughly enjoyed this incredibly unique exploration of 21st century death culture. Moving through the chapters structured around decomposition felt poetic rather than morbid.
August 9, 2026
4.5 stars
August 11, 2026
2.5 stars
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August 20, 2026The August Book for Morbidly Curious Book Club
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews