Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

The overarching theme of this book is that innumerable modern innovations have been due to research on cadavers. Indeed, Roach argues that in every period, and across the world, cultures have been using their dead for mechanical, medical, and religiouspurposes with the intention of improvement of society. Cadavers’ importance to world history, as evidenced by Roach’s research, is often underreported due to the general squeamishness and discomfort that many people have with regard to the dead.

Cadaver research has contributed to the advancement of medicine and safety provisions: “[f]or every surgical procedure developed, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside the surgeons, making history in their own quiet, sundered way” (9).As Roach sees it, Stiff is giving recognition to a group of people who, in death, have propelled human innovation forward: “[t]his is a book about notable achievements made while dead. There are people long forgotten for their contributions while alive, but immortalized in the pages of books and journals” (10). Painted as superheroes for their ability to endure so much brutality without flinching, Roach sees cadavers as having “superpowers” that can be used for the betterment of humankind (10).