A review by tempscire
199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoads
informative
4.5
Excellent. Obviously with 199 cemeteries covered, you're not getting an extensive deep dive on any of them, but the content provided did enough to establish what was interesting about each and to pique your curiosity to learn more. One color photo per cemetery was included.
The selected cemeteries are quite diverse. North America does get the lion's share, but cemeteries from all inhabited continents are included. Some surprising but sensible choices impressed me, like Hiroshima, the USS Arizona, and Pompeii. There are ancient tombs and burial mounds as well as more modern (relatively) grounds. Where race and religion affected the layout or availability of graves in a cemetery, the author noted it.
Cemeteries are organized geographically, which threw me off a bit at first, since at first glance they clearly weren't alphabetical nor chronological. E.g. in the US you start on the east coast and gradually move westward, ending with three Hawaiian cemeteries (!).
The book itself is simple but rather lovely -- bronzey end pages are slightly metallic, and there's a matching design on the edge of all the pages reminiscent of a wrought iron fence. The paper isn't glossy, so the book is lighter to hold.
The selected cemeteries are quite diverse. North America does get the lion's share, but cemeteries from all inhabited continents are included. Some surprising but sensible choices impressed me, like Hiroshima, the USS Arizona, and Pompeii. There are ancient tombs and burial mounds as well as more modern (relatively) grounds. Where race and religion affected the layout or availability of graves in a cemetery, the author noted it.
Cemeteries are organized geographically, which threw me off a bit at first, since at first glance they clearly weren't alphabetical nor chronological. E.g. in the US you start on the east coast and gradually move westward, ending with three Hawaiian cemeteries (!).
The book itself is simple but rather lovely -- bronzey end pages are slightly metallic, and there's a matching design on the edge of all the pages reminiscent of a wrought iron fence. The paper isn't glossy, so the book is lighter to hold.