Synopses & Reviews
March 1848. Mysterious knocks are heard in a little house in rural New York, throwing the community into turmoil. Are the children who live there -- Kate and Maggie Fox, sisters aged eleven and fourteen -- making the raps to trick their parents? Or are the girls mediums for otherworldly messages? From a battery of strange sounds and the excitement they create, modern Spiritualism is born.
Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism follows the remarkable story of the Fox sisters, who were catapulted to fame after word spread that they communicated with spirits. Within a few years, tens of thousands of Americans were flocking to seances. An international movement developed. Yet forty years after those first knocks, the sisters shocked the country by denying that they had ever been in contact with the dead. Shortly after, in another stunning reversal, they changed their story again and reaffirmed their faith in the spirit world. Were the Fox sisters con artists who had taken a childhood prank too far? Or were they really in touch with "voices from beyond"?
In this riveting biography, Barbara Weisberg traces not only the lives of Kate, Maggie, and their family -- including the girls' shrewd and charismatic sister, Leah -- but also the social, religious, economic, and political forces that helped shape the Spiritualist movement. A vivid, compelling overview of a remarkable period in U.S. history, Talking to the Dead provokes questions about belief systems, the power of celebrity, the wish to reconcile faith and science, and the timeless quest for knowledge about life after death.
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“The reach of this story is extraordinary. A fabulous read.” Richard Dreyfuss
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“Barbara Weisberg raises the specter of two winsome adolescent sisters who convinced America they were Talking to the Dead.” Vanity Fair
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“A wide-ranging account....Well-grounded social history.” Kirkus Reviews
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“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 Nineteenth-Century New York.
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“Weisberg has given us a story of enduring human emotions.” --Edmund Blair Bolles, author of The Ice Finders: How a Poet, a Professor, and a Politician Discovered the Ice Age
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“Part history, part biography, part weird tale...a fascinating story of the birth of Spiritualism.” --FATE Magazine, June 2004
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“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
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“[A] well-researched...insightful look at the social climate of the 19th century....makes for fascinating reading.” Cleveland Plain Dealer
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“[P]rovides admirable social context for the girls misadventures as mediums.…also conveys a vivid sense of their personalities.” Los Angeles Times
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“Why the country…was receptive to this spiritual and moral movement is another fascinating question raised by this provocative book.” Boston Globe
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“Weisberg captures the essence of that era in this gracefully written scholarly biography.” Library Journal
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“Weisberg writes with clarity and intelligence...This book tells us a lot about our own relationship with death and dying.” --Alec Baldwin
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“Fascinating…an excellent history of spiritualism in America.” Stuart Woods, author of Reckless Abandon and other novels
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“Talking to the Dead takes you on a thrilling ride....you are sure to be mesmerized.” --Molly Peacock, editor, The Private I: Privacy in a Public World and author of Cornucopia: New and Selected Poems 1980 - 2001
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“Weisberg goes beyond stereotypes…A revealing look at the history of spiritualism and its place in nineteenth-century culture. Booklist
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“Weisberg illustrates that this seemingly simple account of fakery and gullibility is in fact mesmerizingly complex . . . .” Washington Post Book World
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“Whether you are a sucker for the supernatural or a rabid non-believer, this book is compelling....” --Michael Lutin, Vanity Fair Planetarium Astrologer
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“[An] engaging study…[a] lively tale of a little-known slice of American history.” Publishers Weekly
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“Weisberg…seamlessly tells the Foxes story within the context of geographic and religious influences as well as national events” Publishers Weekly
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“…vividly brings alive one of Americas 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
Synopsis
A fascinating story of spirits and conjurors, skeptics and converts in the second half of nineteenth century America viewed through the lvies of Kate and Maggie Fox, the sisters whose purported communication with the dead gave rise to the Modern Spiritualism movement--and whose recanting forty years later is still shrouded in mystery.
About the Author
Barbara Weisberg has also written about the Fox sisters for American Heritage magazine. Formerly a freelance producer whose work has appeared on cable, network, and public television, she lives with her stepchildren and husband, writer and producer David Black, in New York City.