Why read Death, Dissection and the Destitute?

Book cover of Death, Dissection and the Destitute

Book description

In the early nineteenth century, body snatching was rife because the only corpses available for medical study were those of hanged murderers. With the Anatomy Act of 1832, however, the bodies of those who died destitute in workhouses were appropriated for dissection. At a time when such a procedure was…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Death, Dissection and the Destitute as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Helen Frisby

Author

This classic study of the 1832 Anatomy Act is a great combination of scholarly history writing and a call for social justice.

It recounts how the Act solved the problem of corpses being stolen for medical research–by instead appropriating the bodies of poor people who had died in the workhouses. Abuses are still happening: Richardson links the Anatomy Act to the 1990s Alder Hey scandal.

This book reminds me how important it is to keep institutions that deal with the dead accountable–and to know our rights when the time comes.

From Helen's list on The best books on how to die well: past, present and future.