The American Resting Place
Marilyn Yalom, Photographs by Reid S. Yalom
Houghton Mifflin Company
May 2008
336 pages
$30.00
“The American Resting Place” is a study of the position of graveyards in American culture. The answer might seem obvious- graveyards are where, and how, we bury our dead. But Yalom takes a closer look, breaking it down by geography and history. She travels with her son, from Chicago to California to Hawaii. Her son takes photographs, and she provides the narrative for insightful, and entirely respectful questions about burial practices, geography and culture.
I knew I was going to love this book.
It reminds me of one of my favorite anthropology courses I took in college: The Archaeology of Death. We spent a semester studying burial practices, osteology and forensic anthropology. Forensic anthropology is the use of physical anthropology to follow the evidence that identifies a person, in death, or tells the story of how they lived and died. (You see some applications of forensic anthropology in the Fox TV show, “Bones,” and in some of my favorite mystery novels by Aaron Elkins and Kathy Reichs.) I love the particular way science and narrative combine in forensic anthropology.
The other aspect of the course for “Archaeology of Death” was to examine burial practices and the way tombstones are used to mark and honor the dead, or to show a society’s relationship to them. That is the primary focus of Yalom’s book. She takes a particularly close look at gravestone inscriptions, or epitaphs, and uses some of them as springboards to research and study the histories and lives of those who are buried, which is fascinating.
Although Yalom’s emphasis on historical research and presentation of facts and cultural norms respectfully lets the gravesites and their historical position speak for themselves, I would have liked to see more of her input, and more of her interaction with her son, photographer Reed Yalom. The fact that they traveled together, photographing and researching gravesites hints at a fascinating and intriguing road trip story. Because Marilyn Yalom focuses exclusively on the detailed histories of the cemeteries and those buried there, the reader is left wondering about the nuances and conversations of the trip itself. It would have to be fascinating, and I’m left wondering about the strange, seeming reluctance to impose her own presence and relationship on the cultural relationships to cemeteries she analyzes so deftly and so closely.
I have to say, it was also tremendously interesting to read while I was at my parents’ house for the holidays. This is the view from the breakfast table.
Of course, my parents have a sense of humor about the house, which might have been associated with the church at some point. Decorative touches like these are intended with entirely offbeat reverence.: 
