We must hate death because it destroys reason wrote Casanova. This modern phrase expresses well our fear about what seems absurd to us. Yet, most of yesterday s societies attempted to give meaning to this unthinkable idea. Beliefs, myths, monuments, regulations, celebrations, customs, artistic creations: only a few signs remain today of all this. Jean-Pierre Mohen, an archeologist as well as an historian and an ethnologist, gives here a fascinating anthology lavishly illustrated of ancient and traditional rituals of death.