The Public Archaeology of Death – The First Review!

As discussed on this blog before, my latest book – The Public Archaeology of Death – was published in January 2019 and my previous posts about it have covered:

• The 2016 Dead Relevant? Mortuary Archaeology in Contemporary Society conference;
• The book in the making and contracted with Equinox Publishing;
• The provisional content list;
• The publication announcement;
• The book arrived through the post;
• The book launch – a photo op with co-editor Ben;

I don’t usually like to crow about reviews, but given that my latest book was a project deriving from a student conference and incorporating student contributions and editors, I’m going to shamelessly plug the positive evaluation of The Public Archaeology of Death in the latest British Archaeology magazine. Reviewed by the magazine’s editor, Mike Pitts, I’m delighted that he recognised the quality and variability of public encounters with the archaeological dead the chapters cover. Mike has published and debated many dimensions of the book’s themes and topics, from Stonehenge to Richard III, so his evaluation means a lot to me and it will mean a great deal to the student editors and the authors too.

The book was an experiment and a risk for the publishers. Other archaeology publishers wouldn’t touch it because I wanted the authors to be a mix of more established researchers and student contributors. My editorial control and input wasn’t considered a sufficient assurance of quality content for them, and thus sales. Therefore, regardless of all the other positive comments, I’m delighted when Mike says there are ‘no weak links’. Credit goes to the authors, who were patient and flexible about their contributions, and to the commitment and support offered by Equinox.