Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America

A few months ago, Russell Moore penned an excellent piece in Touchstone on how Christians should begin to reconsider their position on cremation (a piece, I should point out, that spawned some excellent conversation here at Mere-O).  As a practice, it is so common that most people–Christians or otherwise–approach it pragmatically and unreflectively.  It is simply one of a set of possible options, no one being better than any of the others.
Such unreflective approaches to a topic are indicative of a lack of understanding regarding that topic.  Most people have never stopped to consider what cremation is, nor how it emerged in American society.
For the interested reader, Stephen Prothero’s Purified by Fire fills void exceptionally well.