On September 15, Prometheus Books will release Land of the Dead: How the West Changed Death in America by Terry Hamburg, which explores how the demands of survival and adaptation during U.S. westward expansion changed the way we buried and grieved our dead in America.

Nowhere did these changes play out more dynamically than in California, particularly in the quintessential American boom city of San Francisco, which banned burials at the turn of the 20th century and then decreed the removal of 150,000 privately owned graves – the only major metropolis to execute a complete eviction of its dead.

In this well-researched and well-told history, Hamburg explores how an “instant city” heritage bred that momentous decision. Providing a fresh overlay on traditional narratives and revealing a burgeoning nation’s trends and conflicts, this book examines how we relate to our “living dead” then and now.

Hamburg is director emeritus of Cypress Lawn Heritage Foundation, a division of Cypress Lawn Cemetery. He holds a master’s degree in history from King’s College, Cambridge University, and has written numerous articles on California history and the fate of San Francisco’s dead. prometheusbooks.com