Enrico de Pascale seeks to provide a comprehensive sampling of images of death and resurrection throughout human history. Were this book called The art of dying I would have fewer reservations about it, but its present title raises expectations that are not met. The book is organised thematically, and I was especially disappointed to find no exploration of the relation between death and resurrection in the section called ‘Between heaven and earth’. There are many well-presented images of the passion of Christ, and though the detailed commentary accompanying the gruesome Grünewald Crucifixion notes that this is ‘part of a large polyptych’ it neglects to say that the altarpiece's outermost wings can open to reveal the Annunication and an extraordinary resurrection. I do not understand why a book replete with marvellous images from many cultures (and some of the contemporary images are wonderfully intriguing) virtually ignores the Eastern Orthodox tradition where many fine depictions of resurrection and eternal life may be found. De Pascale's interesting collection of imagery is accompanied by concise and insightful commentary, only occasionally marred by scholarly errors (for example the Thirty Years' War did not happen in ‘the late 15th century’). The commentary mentions that images are influenced by one another; I would have liked to see some (for example. Manet and Goya) in a kind of ‘visual conversation’. Also, it would be helpful if some of the images were larger; those in the ‘Eros and Thanatos’ section are hard to study. De Pascale's ambitious book does cover a lot of ground, however, and readers interested in death, dying or morbid anatomy would do well to peruse it. But resurrection is an afterthought; the book would be truer to its intention if de Pascale had presented us with more images of rebirth, ascension, apotheosis, transformation and resurrection, and woven those images through his intriguing book.