Using traditional mourning rituals as an instructive touchstone, Gail Holst-Warhaft explores the ways sorrow is managed in our own times and how mourning can be manipulated for social and political ends. It might be argued that modern society has largely abdicated its role in managing sorrow. In "The Cue for Passion, " however, we see that some communities, moved by the intensity of their grief, have utilized it to gain ground for their own agendas.