This book investigates how social identity persists beyond the physical cessation of the body, challenging traditional sociological theories that tether identity solely to biological presence. The authors, Elizabeth Hallam, Glennys Howarth, and Jenny Hockey, utilize a multidisciplinary framework to analyze the management of the deceased and the cultural construction of the soul. By synthesizing empirical data and cross-cultural fieldwork, they argue that identity is a social construct that continues to function through memory, ritual, and the labor of various professional and spiritual intermediaries.

Experts in the field of death studies recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of sociology and mortality. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of how identity is managed after death.