'Only a Dog'

Paul Koudounaris’ new book, Faithful Unto Death, looks like a textbook and feels like a doorstop. But don’t let the heft — or the seemingly macabre subject matter — deter you from picking up this exhaustively researched nonfiction. The author of three books about death and one about cats, Koudounaris here documents history in a delightful way: by collecting stories centered on a main theme, pet cemeteries, and arranging them to illuminate something essential about a culture. In this case, the culture is mainly Western, specifically U.S., although Koudounaris does include other peoples’ traditions where it helps elucidate his main idea — that society’s self-improvement can be traced through the ways humans lay their domestic animals to rest. From the rise of the anti-animal cruelty movement in the 19th century through contemporary urban pet burials, the author offers dozens of rabbit holes (sorry not sorry!) to get lost in. You can read the poem that an Englishman named William Keyte had inscribed on the headstone of his pet trout (“… he was so tame / you understand / he would come and / eat out of your hand …”), dive deep into the common epitaph “only a dog” (or “cat”), and find out why Mae West didn’t attend the funeral of her beloved gibbon Boogie (hint: her makeup), among many, many other things you didn’t know you’d love to know. And thanks to extensive notes, you’ll also know it’s actually true.