Bodies of evidence: medicine and the politics of the English inquest, 1830–1926

was from ours. Chapter 8 (1760-1850) sets death within the larger context of Enlightenment rationalism, romanticism and evangelicalism, whereas Chapter 7 (1660-1760) deals with perceptions of death in a changing political scene. Chapters 4 (1150-1380) and 6 (1558-1660) explore the association of secular and religious attitudes to death, while Chapter 5 (1380-1558) investigates the relationship between the fact of death and mental perceptions of it. Quite wisely, the editors do not attempt to draw any overall conclusions from such a variety of approaches; rather they let each essay shed its own light on the topic. This means that reading the book cover-to-cover is rather anti-climactic. Few readers will attempt to do so, however. Even though the book is held together by strong central themes, it is essentially a collection of individual essays and is best appreciated as such. The excellent editing, beautiful illustrations, up-to-date footnotes and useful index make this volume a delight to read, and it will be of value to scholars and students alike.