Funeral Service

While the funeral is one of mankind's oldest rituals, funeral practices are not exempt from adaptation and change. Today's families are instinctively seeking more environmentally responsible body care and disposition options, more hands-on participation in the funeral period, regardless of where they live or how much money they have to spend.

The blogger behind Confessions of a Funeral Director--what Time magazine called a "must read"--reflects on mortality and the powerful lessons death holds for every one of us in this compassionate and thoughtful spiritual memoir that combines the humor and insight of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with the poignancy and brevity of When Breath Becomes Air.

Do Funerals Matter? is a creative interweaving of historical, sociocultural, and research-based perspectives on death rituals, drawing from myriad sources to create a picture of what death rituals have been; and where, especially in the Western world, they are going. Death educators, researchers, counselors, clergy, funeral-service professionals, and others will appreciate the book's theory- and research-based approach to the ways in which different cultural groups memorialize their dead.

When is attending a funeral or memorial service "a must," and when is it optional? Can a eulogy be funny? Can I scatter my brother's ashes in the backyard? Should I place a death notice or an obituary? What's the difference?

This book explores the heart of funeral service. It is written by a funeral director and is designed for other funeral professionals.

Many people are curious about what goes on behind the scenes at a funeral home. Add a live-in family to this scenario, and you'll Step Into Our Lives at the Funeral Home.

Excerpt from Taking the Burdens: The Strategic Role of the Funeral Director This article extends the body of previous research concerning funeral work in three directions. First, it delineates aspects of the meaning of funeral work as it is understood by an insider and emphasizes the practical, everyday activities of the funeral director.