This collected volume is dedicated to the role of prayer books in lay piety in medieval and early modern contexts. Instead of focusing on individual examples, it places them within the broader genre of devotional literature and considers them in connection with prevailing cultural, religious and artistic developments, taking into account the Reformation, the printing press and growing interest in lay piety, in the context of increasing individualism, developing literacy, privatization and/or personalization of religion. Contextualising devotional literature, the volume refines understandings of religious practice fostered by traditional Catholicism and early modern Protestantism and its relationship with the written word, locating the use of books within a devotional 'diet' that included oral recitation of prayers as well as contemplation of images. Stressing continuities, often against the grain of existing literature, this volume highlights differences between regional cultures of prayer in contrast to norms set by the universal Church and emphasizes the tension between public/communal and private/individual devotion.

Social death occurs when the social existence of a person or group ceases. With an individual, it can occur before or after physical death. Scholars in a wide range of disciplines have applied the concept to very diverse issues – including genocide, slavery, dementia, hospitalisation, and bereavement. Social death relates to social exclusion, social capital, social networks, social roles and social identity, but its theorising is not united – scholars in one field are often unaware of its use in other fields. This is the first book to bring a range of perspectives together in a pioneering effort to bring to the field conceptual clarity rooted in empirical data. Preceded by an original theoretical discussion of the concept of social death, contributions from the UK, Romania, Sweden, and Israel analyse the fourth age, end of life policies, dying alone at home, suicide, photographs on gravestones, bereavement, and the agency of dead musicians. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.