Carcass

A deeply original, if macabre, exploration of animal remains, their significance, and their critical roles in human lives and the world.

From an award-winning science writer who has written for National Geographic, PBS Newshour, and Newsweek.

Carcasses get a bad rap. Some think animal remains are all “gross,” “dangerous,” and “biohazards.” Some want carcasses discarded or destroyed, turned from valuable and beautiful remains to ash, pollution, and landfill. But animal remains are like water. They are both a reality and a necessity. In Carcass, award-winning journalist Kristin Hugo takes the reader on a journey into the world beyond a creature’s death, highlighting the complex and surprising ways in which people and dead animals interact.

From the Arctic Circle, where indigenous people rely on an ancient tradition of keeping, herding, and killing reindeer for sustenance, to slaughterhouses, a fur farm, a pet memorialist, a taxidermy art show, and more, the book explores all the many reasons why people raise, kill, and process animals: for food, practical items, scientific specimens, parts of nature, or as objects of artistic and emotional significance.

Carcass also challenges our many myths and misunderstandings about animal remains. Readers may be surprised to discover that seashells are parts of animals, found dead or killed for their bodies. The author also examines the complicated depths of selling body parts, the misleading nature of phrases like “humane” and “ethically sourced,” and the reality that the few who claim to “use the whole animal” truly do so. The author invites readers to understand this critical topic more accurately, more deeply, and with a greater appreciation for the intersections of death and life.