Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous CorpsesA “marvelously macabre” (Kirkus Reviews) history of the bizarre afterlives of corpses of the celebrated and notorious dead. For some of the most influential figures in history, death marked the start of a new adventure. The famous deceased have been stolen, burned, sold, pickled, frozen, stuffed, impersonated, and even filed away in a lawyer’s office. Their fingers, teeth, toes, arms, legs, skulls, hearts, lungs, and nether regions have embarked on voyages that crisscross the globe and stretch the imagination. Counterfeiters tried to steal Lincoln’s corpse. Einstein’s brain went on a cross-country road trip. And after Lord Horatio Nelson perished at Trafalgar, his sailors submerged him in brandy—which they drank. From Alexander the Great to Elvis Presley, and from Beethoven to Dorothy Parker, Rest in Pieces connects the lives of the famous dead to the hilarious and horrifying adventures of their corpses, and traces the evolution of cultural attitudes toward death. |
Contents
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN | 44 |
LEE HARVEY OSWALD | 105 |
Body politics | 121 |
JOHN PAUL JONES | 168 |
DANTE ALIGHIERI | 174 |
FREDERICK THE GREAT | 183 |
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART | 202 |
GALILEO GALILEI | 236 |
Last Wishes | 259 |
Acknowledgments | 277 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adolf Hitler Alexander Alexander’s American ashes asked autopsy Becket’s Beethoven belonged beneath Bentham Blake’s body bones Born burial buried Byron Byron’s cemetery century Christopher Columbus Church coffin Columbus corpse corpse’s cremated Cromwell’s cryonics crypt Dante’s dead death decades decided Descartes didn’t died discovered display Eddowes Einstein’s brain Elvis embalmed England Eva Perón Evita’s exhumed famous father finally French friends funeral Galileo Geronimo grave Harvey Haydn’s head Hitler’s inside James’s Jeremy Bentham Jesse James Jim Thorpe Jones’s Kelly’s King Laden’s later Laurence Sterne Leary Lee Harvey Oswald Lenin’s Lincoln’s London mausoleum Molière Mozart’s Museum Mussolini’s named Napoleon’s never officials once Oswald Paine’s Paris penis phrenology Poe’s poet preserved Rasputin reburied relics remains Rosenbaum Russian Saint sarcophagus scientists secret skeleton skull Skull and Bones Sterne’s stolen story Swedenborg’s there’s Thorpe’s tion tomb took vault Voltaire Voltaire’s wanted wrote York