The creation of 'Closure'.

• Author: Walker, Jesse
• Position: Briefly Noted - Brief article

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There was a time when Americans didn't assume that every tragedy requires "closure." The Drake University sociologist Nancy Berns explores how that changed in Closure (Temple), a book about a word whose meaning is fluid: At different times, it can suggest either remembering or forgetting, either vengeance or forgiveness. Sometimes it is invoked in ways that have less to do with helping the bereaved than with stigmatizing people whose bereavement is making their acquaintances uncomfortable. Often the word carries a commercial or political agenda.

Berns attributes the rise of "closure" to several social...