From Here to Eternity: Travelling the World to Find the Good Death

by Caitlin Doughty

Landis Blair (Illustrator)

As a practising mortician, Caitlin Doughty has long been fascinated by our pervasive terror of dead bodies. In From Here to Eternity she sets out in search of cultures unburdened by such fears. With curiosity and morbid humour, Doughty introduces us to inspiring death-care innovators, participates in powerful death practices almost entirely unknown in the West and explores new spaces for mourning - including a futuristic glowing-Buddha columbarium in Japan, a candlelit Mexican cemetery, and America's only open-air pyre. In doing so she expands our sense of what it means to treat the dead with 'dignity' and reveals unexpected possibilities for our own death rituals.

• ISBN10: 1474606539
• ISBN13: 9781474606530
• Publish Date: 24 January 2019 (first published 3 October 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Beth C.]

What a fascinating book! As someone who has contemplated our remove from death here in the US, and the lack of options available to those who prefer to have something more "natural", this was an interesting look at how other countries manage their dead, from the slightly familiar Dios de los Muertos, to the people who caretake the bodies of their dead for YEARS after they have passed. It gives me hope that one day, those of us in the US will have a better relationship with the idea of death, and more options in which to help our loved ones take their final steps.

[ktshpd]

Liked it even better than Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Good balance of humor, thoughtfulness, and respect for others. Also, VERY interesting to read about how everyone else who isn't 🇺🇸 has way COOLER death related rituals. #recompostme