ROADSIDE CROSSES IN CONTEMPORARY MEMORIAL CULTURE

Everyone sees them—roadside shrines that are spontaneously erected to commemorate a highway death or fatal accident. In this short but perceptive academic study, Everett outlines the multiple purposes of erecting a roadside shrine: it helps friends, relatives and strangers cope with their sudden loss; serves as a meeting place for the bereft; calls public attention to the death; and communicates a "grim warning" to other motorists. Everett's study is narrow; she examines only Christian artifacts and shrines, and her primary research was conducted entirely in Texas. However, as she notes, there is a certain universality to these roadside memorials, which spring up all across the country with a ghostly familiarity. Everett's book will be esteemed by academics and folklorists who specialize in material culture, but also by general readers who are able to look beyond scholarly references. Twenty-five b&w photos demonstrate some of the crosses and shrines discussed in the book. (Oct.)