Why read Ghosts of Futures Past?

Book cover of Ghosts of Futures Past: Spiritualism and the Cultural Politics of Nineteenth-Century America

Book description

"Ghosts of Futures Past" guides readers through the uncanny world of nineteenth-century American spiritualism. More than an occult parlor game, this was a new religion, which channeled the voices of the dead, linked present with past, and conjured new worldly and otherworldly futures. Tracing the persistence of magic in an…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Ghosts of Futures Past as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Megaera C. Lorenz

Author

This book profoundly appeals to the history nerd in me. It places the American Spiritualist movement in its historical and cultural context, examining everything from the connection between spiritualism and 19th-century technological innovations to the role of gender and sexuality in the séance room.

While it’s easy to dismiss spiritualism as a fringe oddity, McGarry’s book illuminates just how vital it was in shaping American culture and politics as we know them today. The academic language is a little dense in places, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of the meticulous scholarship and the enthralling subject matter.

From Megaera's list on fascination with ghosts, hauntings, and afterlife.