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Review
The Ten Best History Books:
'Arnold's account of death in London is by turns fascinating, stomach-churning and poignant'
--Independent, January 27, 2009
'Arnold's account of death in London is by turns fascinating, stomach-churning and poignant'
--Independent, January 27, 2009
Review
"Enthusiastic, good-humored and constantly engaging." --"Daily Telegraph"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
London and its dead covers the period from Roman times to date, with emphasis on the periods of the Black Death, the Victorian era and the Second World War. Very well written, and the macabra nature of the subject matter is treated sensitively. It is informative and amusing by turn, detailing some of the grisly aspects of death, various cemetery related scandals and lots of good hard factual information. If you have an interest in cemeteries or in London as a city this is a must read book. My only quibble is that there were very few illustrations, and those chosen were not good. Other than that, it's excellent!
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Necropolis: London and its Dead is a fascinating study of London's status as centuries-old burial ground, and how the city's relationship to death and its dead has played a pivotal role in its history. It begins with the Neolithic tribal settlements in the area which became the capital, moving onto Roman ritual and burial and then,in the post-Pagan centuries, the vast differences in the treatment of death via Christian belief. Medieval death, plague and the notion of ars moriendi (the art of dying well) are explored, as is the Great Fire of 1665, the population boom of the following two centuries. The crystalisation of Victorian attitudes to grief and mourning naturally take up a great deal of the book, as do the completions of the vast (then) out-of-town cemeteries such as Kensall Green and of course Highgate, after the massive scandals of the Resurrection-Men, mass burials, cholera and the public health horrors of the mid-1800s. Moving on from the nineteenth century, Arnold argues that the intricate and established cult of grief long-held in Victorian London necessarily had to alter after the mass deaths of WWI made intimate mourning and, indeed, graveside reveries, impossible and contrived in the face of rapidly advancing, agnostic modernity.
The amount of material covered in this slim paperback edition is quite staggering, but Arnold makes easy work of the vast subject matter and manages to convey a neat narrative progression throughout. She has an obvious relish for the macabre, but never falls into either of the standard-issue pitfalls when dealing with the subject of death: she neither becomes overly hammy and lighthearted, nor does she descend into the sober depths of elegy. At all times she is even-handed, engaging, critical and honest.
The Victorian period is allotted a considerable amount of space and this book would be of great interest to those interested in Victoriana. Far from revealing an especial prejudice on the part of the author, however, this merely reflects the fact that it was during the nineteenth century that the subject of death was critical from a social, cultural, political and health point of view. Proof that we take many things for granted nowadays, Arnold retells the horrors of Victorian burial: the foul, crammed churchyards, the thefts of bodies, the mass graves where decomposition was often aided with quick-lime and bodies were made to fit their 'snug' abodes via dismemberment, or unscrupulous undertakers jumping up and down upon the corpses...facts both intriguing and harrowing illuminate this book throughout. The Victorian industry of death is also examined: the importance of mourning fashion, of status, of monuments and propriety.
Fascinating throughout, I would recommend this book to anyone with even the mildest curiousity about the subject matter. It is thorough and never exploitative. You will finish reading it, as I did, and feel absolutely certain that London has a unique and sometimes ghastly relationship with its dead. To finish: did you know that part of the London Underground near Kensington veers away from its usual straight course due to the impossibility of drilling through a mass grave of plague dead on that site?...
The amount of material covered in this slim paperback edition is quite staggering, but Arnold makes easy work of the vast subject matter and manages to convey a neat narrative progression throughout. She has an obvious relish for the macabre, but never falls into either of the standard-issue pitfalls when dealing with the subject of death: she neither becomes overly hammy and lighthearted, nor does she descend into the sober depths of elegy. At all times she is even-handed, engaging, critical and honest.
The Victorian period is allotted a considerable amount of space and this book would be of great interest to those interested in Victoriana. Far from revealing an especial prejudice on the part of the author, however, this merely reflects the fact that it was during the nineteenth century that the subject of death was critical from a social, cultural, political and health point of view. Proof that we take many things for granted nowadays, Arnold retells the horrors of Victorian burial: the foul, crammed churchyards, the thefts of bodies, the mass graves where decomposition was often aided with quick-lime and bodies were made to fit their 'snug' abodes via dismemberment, or unscrupulous undertakers jumping up and down upon the corpses...facts both intriguing and harrowing illuminate this book throughout. The Victorian industry of death is also examined: the importance of mourning fashion, of status, of monuments and propriety.
Fascinating throughout, I would recommend this book to anyone with even the mildest curiousity about the subject matter. It is thorough and never exploitative. You will finish reading it, as I did, and feel absolutely certain that London has a unique and sometimes ghastly relationship with its dead. To finish: did you know that part of the London Underground near Kensington veers away from its usual straight course due to the impossibility of drilling through a mass grave of plague dead on that site?...
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This could have been a very good book indeed. after all, death and its accompaniments are endlessly fascinating and a cultural history of death in the world's most vibrant and interesting city could be a particularly good read. unfortunately, this whistle-stop tour of several millenia of the disposal of London's dead (with a prolonged halt in the Victorian period and an unnecessary diversion to Princess Diana's death and funeral) just doesn't come up to expectations.
Catherine Arnold is very good at the Victorians, their organised and dignified cemeteries a response to the unspeakably revolting conditions of burial grounds in the early nineteenth century. She covers Victorian burial and mourning culture extremely well. However the remainder of the book covers simply too much ground in too little detail with too many irrelevancies (from ghost stories from the Tower of London to yet another rehash of the extraordinary events around the death and funeral of Princess Diana). And around the irrelevancies are too many generalisations, misleading statements and errors. to take just three examples - plague is not due to a virus; the place where Christopher Marlowe was murdered was not an inn; overall life expectancy was short in previous centuries because of massive infant and child mortality - in fact if you survived childhood your chances of achieving a respectable age were actually quite reasonable.
Perhaps most disappointing of all, the book could have been so much better just with decent map/s and a gazetter of important London cemeteries (location, how to get there, main features, interesting sights, who is buried therein). And the few illustrations are generally of poor quality.
So, worth reading for the chapters on Victoriana, skim the rest.
Catherine Arnold is very good at the Victorians, their organised and dignified cemeteries a response to the unspeakably revolting conditions of burial grounds in the early nineteenth century. She covers Victorian burial and mourning culture extremely well. However the remainder of the book covers simply too much ground in too little detail with too many irrelevancies (from ghost stories from the Tower of London to yet another rehash of the extraordinary events around the death and funeral of Princess Diana). And around the irrelevancies are too many generalisations, misleading statements and errors. to take just three examples - plague is not due to a virus; the place where Christopher Marlowe was murdered was not an inn; overall life expectancy was short in previous centuries because of massive infant and child mortality - in fact if you survived childhood your chances of achieving a respectable age were actually quite reasonable.
Perhaps most disappointing of all, the book could have been so much better just with decent map/s and a gazetter of important London cemeteries (location, how to get there, main features, interesting sights, who is buried therein). And the few illustrations are generally of poor quality.
So, worth reading for the chapters on Victoriana, skim the rest.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
London's attitude to going the way of all flesh
Necropolis is a macabre and fascinating alternative history of London. By focusing in on how London has dealt with it's dead, we learn about the gruesome epidemics that have... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Lord Anon
Knowing where the bodies are buried, literally
"I see dead people." - from the film The Sixth Sense [DVD] [1999]
After reading NECROPOLIS by Catharine Arnold, I'm almost led to believe that turning over a shovelful... Read more
After reading NECROPOLIS by Catharine Arnold, I'm almost led to believe that turning over a shovelful... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Joseph Haschka
Oh dear, purchased on impulse ...
I read a lot of books on the history of London and consider myself a bit of an expert on London lore, but am prepared to make allowances for writers who take a lighter tone for the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by MartinO'London
Wonderful book.
I would rccomend this book to people who know just a little and would like to know more. There is much it doesn't cover but as an introduction it is very well rounded. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mrs. D. L. Cox
Necropolis
I picked the book up on a whim purely on the basis of the description on the cover. It turned out to be a real disappointment. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jim Jim
Less Victoriana Next Time!!
My dad bought my mum this for her birthday (that's love eh!) and when I landed a new job in London, what better to occupy my commute than London and it's dead! Read more
Published 16 months ago by Alison M. Grant
Accessible Introduction
I loved this book, although the part about the era that I would have found most interesting (Roman) was sadly lacking when compared with the later evidence. Read more
Published 16 months ago by SaraLeeBranch
Entertaining but with mediocre prose
After touring Highgate Cemetery I was interested in London Victorian Cemeteries. This book seemed (and was) a good introduction to burial rituals of London. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by R. Kovar
We've all got to go sometimes !
Very interesting read and packed full of facts and stories from the past. Wondering what to invest in during the recession. How about Death ? Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2009 by Mr. C. A. Cheslett
Very poor
Like a previous reviwer said the author tends to go off at tangents that have nothing to do with London. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2009 by Lesley S.
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