Description
London, 1868: visiting Australian Aboriginal cricketer Charles Rose has died in Guy's Hospital. What happened next is shrouded in mystery. The only certainty is that Charles Rose's body did not go directly to a grave.
Written with clarity and verve, and drawing on a rich array of material, Possessing the Dead explores the disturbing history of the cadaver trade in Scotland, England and Australia, where laws once gave certain officials possession of the dead, and no corpse lying in a workhouse, hospital, asylum or gaol was entirely safe from interference.
With a rare blend of curiosity, delight in the unexpected and an eye for detail, award-winning historian Helen MacDonald brings to life this gruesome past to reveal the chicanery at play behind the procuring of bodies for dissections, autopsies and collections.
About the Author
Helen MacDonald is the author of the critically acclaimed Human Remains, which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award (History) and was short-listed for the Ernest Scott History Prize. She is a Senior Fellow at The Australian Centre in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne.
Book Information
ISBN 9780522857351
Author Helen MacDonald
Format Paperback
Page Count 302
Imprint Melbourne University Press
Publisher Melbourne University Press
Weight(grams) 402g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 153mm * 23mm
Written with clarity and verve, and drawing on a rich array of material, Possessing the Dead explores the disturbing history of the cadaver trade in Scotland, England and Australia, where laws once gave certain officials possession of the dead, and no corpse lying in a workhouse, hospital, asylum or gaol was entirely safe from interference.
With a rare blend of curiosity, delight in the unexpected and an eye for detail, award-winning historian Helen MacDonald brings to life this gruesome past to reveal the chicanery at play behind the procuring of bodies for dissections, autopsies and collections.
About the Author
Helen MacDonald is the author of the critically acclaimed Human Remains, which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award (History) and was short-listed for the Ernest Scott History Prize. She is a Senior Fellow at The Australian Centre in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne.
Book Information
ISBN 9780522857351
Author Helen MacDonald
Format Paperback
Page Count 302
Imprint Melbourne University Press
Publisher Melbourne University Press
Weight(grams) 402g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 153mm * 23mm
