RAG AND BONE
“Manseau…lavishly scatters gems…as he travels the world in search of the bones, teeth, hair and other scraps from the religiously renowned…A lively lope among fragments from famous figures.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Adroit, worldly…Transports readers around the globe to check out places accessible and remote where fabric, wood, sinew and other materials are venerated…An amusing romp.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Vivid and fascinating.”
—Time

“An entertaining… affecting inquiry into man’s yearning for spiritual transcendence.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A thoughtful invitation to explore locations, myths, legends, and truths of relics…Manseau brings bare bones to life, and he has composed an intriguing, if peculiar travelogue that takes the reader around the world, exploring truth and legend, but more importantly on a journey of understanding why they matter.”
—Beliefnet.com

“A text for the devoted and devoutly lapsed, RAG AND BONE is part religious study and part travelogue. Peter Manseau proves a reliable guide, getting both the concepts and the corpses right: the idea of the thing and the thing itself. And how far afield his curiosities take us—fellow pilgrims one and all—for whom the dead may be more than the sum of their parts.”
—Thomas Lynch, author of THE UNDERTAKING

“A dead saint’s bones, an ancient prophet’s whisker, the Buddha’s tooth: as Peter Manseau traces the trail of religious relics, he merges the holy and the human with keen insight. The language shines and the humor delights, but, even more, we come away having learned something profound about the making of religious meaning.”
—Barbara J. King, author of EVOLVING GOD

“Peter Manseau’s RAG AND BONE reads like a novel, entertains like a television docu-drama, and educates like the best college professor you ever had. It is at once informative, quirky, and funny. Do people really think that the leathery tongue of a twelfth-century saint can bless them with good fortune? They do. Why do people believe in such weird things as the holy relics of religion? Read this book to find out. WARNING: you may very well discover that you also hold beliefs in holy relics and not even know it!”
—Michael Shermer, author of WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS

“Dry bones dance in RAG AND BONE, as Peter Manseau brings death to life through his fascinating exploration of religious relics: the skull fragments, detached digits, and ashes of the holy. This is a book that might have been written in the fifteenth century just as easily as now, but we’re lucky to have here the unique twenty-first century voice of Manseau – a Yiddish-speaking, Buddha-curious son of a Catholic priest and a nun – and one of the most peculiar and most entertaining travelogues in years.”
—Jeff Sharlet, author of THE FAMILY

“Respectful and good-humored—a just-about-unbeatable combination.”
—The Buffalo News

“An elegantly crafted tribute to the ways in which life and death connect.”
—St. Petersburg Times

“Entertaining . . . [Manseau] is a droll and engaging tour guide.”
—The Arizona Republic

“A delight to read . . . This is a quick and fascinating read that is sure to interest you if you wonder about the world of sacred body parts. And who doesn’t? Highly recommended.”
—Anatheist.net