Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses

(Paperback)

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Description

In the long run, we're all dead. But for some of the most influential figures in history, death marked the start of a new adventure. The famous deceased have been stolen, burned, sold, pickled, frozen, stuffed, impersonated and even filed away in a lawyer's office. Their fingers, teeth, toes, arms, legs, skulls, hearts, lungs and nether regions have embarked on voyages that criss-cross the globe and stretch the imagination.

Counterfeiters tried to steal Lincoln's corpse. Einstein's brain went on a cross-country road trip. And after Lord Horatio Nelson perished at Trafalgar, his sailors submerged him in brandy - which they drank. From Mozart to Hitler, Rest in Pieces connects the lives of the famous dead to the hilarious and horrifying adventures of their corpses and traces the evolution of cultural attitudes towards death.

Reviews

'A historically beguiling, stranger-than-fiction compendium'Elle

'Deliciously morbid and delightfully macabre... required reading for those of us who intend, one day, to die'Ben Schott, author of Schott's Original Miscellany

'If really, we're all sitting in the undertaker's waiting room, thenRest in Piecesis the perfect easy read, preparation for the moment when the nurse steps out of the shadows and quietly calls your name'Simon Winchester, bestselling author of Skulls and The Professor and the Madman

'There is something here to dismay everyone'Times Literary Supplement

'A tasty, sharp, wonderfully unusual book. I enjoyed it like a jar of perfect dill pickles: when the mood strikes, nothing else will satisfy'Mary Roach, author of Gulp and Stiff

'The world is awash with legendary body parts, from Einstein's brain to Napoleon's most intimate organ, and this wildly entertaining account proves that the fate of the grisly relics tells us a huge amount about history - and ourselves'Tony Perrottet, author of Napoleon's Privates

'Marvelously macabre... A fascinating foray into the way of all flesh'Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Bess Lovejoy's work has appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Lapham's Quarterly and elsewhere. She is a former editor at Mental Floss, SmithsonianMag.com. She has delivered talks at Death Salon, Morbid Anatomy, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Green-Wood Cemetery, and for Atlas Obscura. She is also a founding member of The Order of the Good Death. She now works as a freelance writer, researcher, and content creator specializing in the places where history, science, and curiosity meet. Find out more about her: besslovejoy.com