Review: Over My Dead Body
Greg Melville has put together a survey of historical trends tied together by the theme of graveyards. It reminded me of Loewen’s Lies Across America which did a similar thing with historical markers.
Body runs well with the idea. Graveyards are full of people so the Melville is able to touch on issues of race and class in America. They’re also public lands, which lets him talk about how we treat such lands from their landscaping to who can use them. Military graveyards are a jumping off point for wars and how we talk about soldiers.
As with Lies, Melville is surveying, not doing a deep dive. Every topic he touches on has more comprehensive and insightful works on it, but he never pretends otherwise. The result is an interesting exploration of how history ties into everything. It’s a nice doorway into how everyday things can lead one into more of the world once you scratch the surface.
Recommended.