"Over the Past ten Years, as the socialist regimes of Eastern Europe have given way to new political systems, an unusual pattern has emerged. In each country of the former East Bloc, the bodies of revolutionary leaders, heroes, artists and other luminaries, as well as more humble folk, have been taken from their graves - and in many cases repatriated - to be reinterred in new locations. What forces inspired these exhumations of long-dead spirits of Eastern Europe's past, and what are the effects for the living of removing the bones of the dead from their resting places for ceremonial - or unceremonious - reburial? In The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, renowned anthropologist Katherine Verdery examines Eastern Europe's political transformation, exploring the sacred and symbolic ways that people redefine themselves, their history, and their world when new political orders are installed."--BOOK JACKET.