In an impressively short time, America's funeral industry has become more expensive, more corporate, and more bureaucratic than any other funeral industry on Earth. If we can be called best at anything, it would be at keeping our grieving families separated from their dead.
-- Caitlin Doughty (Introduction)

Importance: This quote outlines Doughty's main issues with the American funeral industry with a particular focus on the issue of death avoidance. By separating families from their recently deceased loved ones, the corporate funeral industry is not only contributing to death illiteracy among the average citizen, it is also hindering the grieving process. By placing the American funeral industry in context with the rest of the world, Doughty also sets up her exploration of cross-cultural death rituals as a way of not only understanding death better, but also opening one's eyes and mind to the possibilities available in reforming deathcare in America.

Still, it is demonstrably wrong...
-- Caitlin Doughty (Introduction)