What Death Means Now: Thinking Critically About Dying and Grieving

Although death is universal, how we respond to it—how we ready ourselves for death and how we grieve—depends on when and where we live. New preparations for dying, new kinds of funerals, new ways of handling grief, and new ways to memorialize are continually evolving, and with them come new challenges. Bringing to bear twenty-five years of work on the sociology of death and dying, Tony Walter engages critically with key questions such as: should we talk about death more and plan in advance? How possible is advance planning as more people suffer frailty and dementia? How do physical migration and digital connection affect the irreducibly material process of dying? Is the traditional funeral still relevant? Can burial and cremation be ecological? And how should we grieve: quietly, openly, or even online?