Happy Death Club : Essays on Death, Grief & Bereavement Across Cultures

Anthropologist Naomi Westerman was studying death rituals around the world—when her whole family died.

Upon losing those closest to her, Naomi Westerman saw that death was more than just an abstract academic concept; it was a deeply painful and personal experience. She became fascinated by loss and grief, and hoped to cope and demystify death by turning to history, art, and pop culture.

Happy Death Club examines the many faces of death and grief in cultures around the world. From expensive coffins and uncon- ventional burials to horror films and true crime, what does our treatment of death have to tell us about how we live our lives? What makes a “good death”? And who owns our bodies before and after we die?

Both meaningful and darkly humorous, this is a frank, curious look at a universal human experience—one we’re often too afraid to talk about—and at what lies beyond.