All the Living and the Dead

A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the peopleΓÇömorticians,detectivescrime scene cleanersembalmersexecutionersΓÇöwho work in it and what led them there. We are surrounded by death. It is in our newsour nursery rhymesour true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young agewe are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what weΓÇÖre so afraid ofwhen we are never given the chance to look? Fueled by a childhood fascination with deathjournalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the wayshe encounters mass fatality investigatorsembalmersand a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own gravesvisits a cryonics facility in Michigangoes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detectiveand questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear. Through CampbellΓÇÖs incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every dayshe asks: Why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden? A dazzling work of cultural criticismAll the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoirhistoryand philosophyto offer readers a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.