Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism - Hardcover

Weisberg, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060566671 ISBN 13: 9780060566678

Publisher: Harper San Francisco, 2004

Synopsis

Follows the story of the Fox sisters, whose reports about strange noises in their mid-nineteenth-century home and subsequent claims that they could talk with ghosts gave rise to contemporary séance practices and modern beliefs about spiritualism. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

Is it really possible to talk to the dead? This question still generates passionate opinions from believers and sceptics alike and is explored in Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism. One can only imagine the stir that the Fox sisters created in 1848 when they claimed to hear a ghost rapping on the wall of their Hydesville, New York home. The sisters soon discovered that the ghost would tap answers to specific questions. Within days neighbours and travellers were showing up at the house wanting to converse with the "spirit". The Fox sisters went onto become a national phenomenon, holding séances and making their livings as celebrity mediums. They were also the leaders of a new movement called the spiritualists. New York-based filmmaker Barbara Weisberg assembled this fascinating and expertly recounted biography.

Beyond trying to prove whether the Fox girls were legitimate, Weisberg wrote a study of how two young girls could shape a new spiritual movement in mid-1800s America. "The more I thought about the Fox sisters, the more it seemed to me not only that Kate and Maggie sparked a movement, but that their lives epitomised the conflicts and urges that helped fuel its blaze. The question of the other world aside, the girls' appeal surely stemmed in part from the ways they embodied--and intuited--their culture's anxieties and ambitions." Ironically, in not trying to prove whether these two were frauds, Weisberg has created a more satisfying human story within a rich historical context, not unlike the tactics used for the bestseller Seabiscuit. And likewise, this could and should easily translate into a dynamite major motion picture. --Gail Hudson, Amazon.com

Review:

"Why the country.was receptive to this spiritual and moral movement is another fascinating question raised by this provocative book." -- Boston Globe

"Engrossing and poignant.a fascinating read, both for scholars and the general reading public." -- Patricia Cline Cohen, author of The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Ni

."vividly brings alive one of America's most fascinating historical eras. This book is a fine read and an excellent reference." -- --Christine Wicker, author of Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead

"[An] engaging study.[a] lively tale of a little-known slice of American history." -- Publishers Weekly

"Weisberg goes beyond stereotypes.A revealing look at the history of spiritualism and its place in nineteenth-century culture. -- Booklist

"Weisberg.seamlessly tells the Foxes' story within the context of geographic and religious influences as well as national events" -- Publishers Weekly

"Fascinating.an excellent history of spiritualism in America." -- Stuart Woods, author of Reckless Abandon and other novels

"Whether you are a sucker for the supernatural or a rabid non-believer, this book is compelling...."----Michael Lutin, Vanity Fair Planetarium Astrologer

"A fascinating exploration of the mysteries of mortality and faith..... A most readable and instructive story."----Frederic Morton, author of A Perfect Splendor - Vienna 1888/9 and The Rothschilds

"Weisberg goes beyond stereotypes...A revealing look at the history of spiritualism and its place in nineteenth-century culture.--Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper San Francisco
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0060566671
• ISBN 13: 9780060566678
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 324