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History General

Respectable Burial

Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery

by (author) Brian Young

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
May 2003
Category
General, Death & Dying
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773525290
    Publish Date
    May 2003
    List Price
    $55.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773570986
    Publish Date
    May 2003
    List Price
    $65.00

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Description

Respectable Burial also highlights how important a role Montreal played in Canada's history. The cemetery is the final resting place of politician Alexander Galt, poet F.R. Scott, hockey star Howie Morenz, explorer David Thompson, bank presidents, renegades, hangmen, and victims of the Titanic. This history of a model rural cemetery, an innovator in perpetual care and proprietor of the first crematorium in Canada, illustrates changing attitudes to burial and commemoration - including the relationships between Protestantism, Romanticism, and death. Young also shows how the cemetery, a site of great natural beauty that helped inspire Frederick Law Olmsted's adjacent Mount Royal Park, became a much-loved public urban space and examines how the evolution of its landscaping, architecture, and use reflect changing attitudes to the place of women, recreation, heritage, and the environment. Incorporating a rich collection of archival illustrations, walking maps, and a colour photo essay by photographer Geoffrey James, Respectable Burial will appeal to anyone interested in Canadian history, parks, and cities.

About the author

Brian Young is professor emeritus of history at McGill University and the author and co-author of several books including, with John Dickinson, A Short History of Quebec, now in its fourth edition.

Brian Young's profile page