The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death, Library Edition

from bezoar44

The chapters in this collection of historical essays are all ostensibly about changing conceptions of 'the journey of life' in American culture over the last three centuries. I say ostensibly because many started out as free-standing essays. Virtually all the topics of the individual chapters are...

from bostonian71

Intelligent if somewhat disconnected collection of historical/philosophical essays. Each piece by itself is an insightful examination of an idea or situation -- the chronology of breastpumping, for instance, or one librarian's attempt to block the publication of E.B. White's "Stuart Little" - exp...

from bookworm12

An enjoyable read, but a strange one. The subject matter jumps from fetal photographs to the creation of the novel Stuart Little to the history of breast pumps to freezing bodies for potential reanimation. Each section is interesting, but they feel more like individual essays than one cohesive bo...

from gayla.bassham

Really 3 1/2 stars. Not quite the tour-de-force the reviews led me to believe it was. Interesting, but disconnected.

from Sullywriter

A book that covers a wide range of topics, all rendered fascinating by Lepore's sharp, engaging and witty style.