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A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death
Collins
August 2006
240 pages
ISBN: 0060766832
EAN: 9780060766832
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Cullen has created a humorous and poignant chronicle of her
travels around the country to discover how Americans -- baby
boomers, in particular -- are reinventing the rites of
dying. What she discovered is that the people who reinvented
youth, redefined careers, and reconceived middle age have
created a new attitude toward the afterlife. They no longer
want to take death lying down; instead, they're taking their
demise into their own hands and planning the after-party. Cullen begins her journey at a national undertakers'
convention in Nashville, where she checks out the latest in
death merchandise. Traveling with her newborn infant on her
back, she hears stories of modern-day funerals:
lobster-shaped caskets and other unconventional containers
for corpses; the booming cremation industry that has spawned
a slew of "end-trepreneurs," including a company that turns
cremated remains into diamonds; and even mishaps like dove
releases gone horribly wrong. Cullen tours the country's first "green" cemetery in South
Carolina, meets a mummification advocate at his pyramid in
Utah, and visits the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in
Colorado. She crashes a Hmong funeral in Minneapolis and a
tango funeral in Washington, D.C. Eye-opening, funny, and unforgettable, Remember Me gives an
account of the ways in which Americans are designing new
occasions to mark death -- by celebrating life.
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