The dark arts: an introduction A seismic shift: Lincoln and the new sanitary science The Book of the Dead Lethal combat and other Roman obsequies The bloody barber-surgeons: embalming emerges from the dark ages Mourning gloves and liquor: early American burial practices Embalming surgeons Gone to their sleep: Victorian sensibilities Resurrectionists: advent of the burial vault Vessels of the dead: coffins, caskets, and the hysteria surrounding grave alarms The temple of honor: vehicles of the dead Mourning the Great War Flame burial Mushroom suits and the future [of funeral service]