Table of Contents
The Beginning or the End? vi
Dead Bodies 101 viii
Ines De Castro: Till Death Do Us Part x
Loved to Death 6
Galileo Galilei: Hanging by his Fingernails 10
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 16
King Louis XIV: Eat Your Heart Out 18
Bon Appétit! Bites and Bits 24
George Washington: Straight from the Horse's Mouth 26
Buried … but Not Quite Dead 32
Franz Joseph Haydn: A Piece of his Mind 34
Phrenology-A Bumpy History 40
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Splitting Hairs 42
Some Hairy History 48
Abraham Lincoln: From the Cradle to the Grave 50
Pickling Picks 58
Chang and Eng Bunker: Stuck on You 60
It's Fun to Share 66
Phineas Gage: A Hole in One 68
Bury the Hatchet and Then Some 74
John Wilkes Booth: Saving His Neck 76
Another Spiny Tale 82
Sarah Bernhardt: Break a Leg 84
You're Pulling My Leg 92
Vincent Van Gogh: Lend Me Your Ear 94
Artsy Extras 100
Mercy Brown: A Heartless Vampire 104
The Dead vs. the Undead (A Field Guide) 110
Mata Hari: I Spy a Head 112
Lost and Never Found 118
Albert Einstein: Picking his Brain 122
Bits on Brains 130
Elvis Presley: Warts and All 132
Cloning Body Parts 138
Recycling Bits: First Steps 140
A Happily Ever Afterlife 142
The Most Wanted 144
Corpse Medicine 146
Deathly Decor 150
Dead-End Jobs 152
Unloved Bits 158
Thomas Alva Edison: Last Gasps 160
Acknowledgments 166
Notes on Sources 167
Selected Bibliography 172
Index 179