The following is a guest blog post by Sarah J. Purcell, author of Spectacle of Grief: Public Funerals and Memory in the Civil War Era, reposted from the Washington Post. This illuminating book examines how the public funerals of major figures from the Civil War era shaped public memories of the war and allowed a diverse set of people to contribute to changing American national identities. These funerals featured lengthy processions that sometimes crossed multiple state lines, burial ceremonies open to the public, and other cultural productions of commemoration such as oration and song. As Sarah J. Purcell reveals, Americans’ participation in these funeral rites...