Nancy Rubin Stuart
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Young medium Maggie Fox in 1853, co-founder of the spiritualist movement that fascinated millions of Americans and persists to the present day.
ADVANCE PRAISE FROM THE EXPERTS “A tale of love, betrayal, and the hope that prompted an entire nation to hunt for ghosts, Nancy Rubin Stuart's Reluctant Spiritualist lifts the veil from Maggie Fox, one of the founders of the spiritualist movement in America and the quintessential celebrity, beloved and then beleaguered. A fascinating, harrowing story.” -- Brenda Wineapple, author HAWTHORNE: A LIFE "Nancy Rubin Stuart has provided as complete a life of the elusive Maggie Fox as we are ever likely to have. Her evocative account reminds us how often Americans have mixed religious seeking with humbug." --R. Laurence Moore, Director of American Studies, Cornell University "Maggie Fox was one of the most fascinating women of nineteenth-century America. Nancy Rubin Stuart's narrative of Fox's remarkable life -- a mindboggling blend of girlish romance,pathological sleaze, and sacred history -- is scholarly but intimate." -- Kenneth Silverman, Professor Emeritus, New York University "Distinguished biographer Nancy Rubin Stuart adds a string to her bow with THE RELUCTANT SPIRTUALIST. With admirable objectivity, Stuart creates a portrait of a complex woman with an undeniable although mysterious gift for telepathy. Distrusted by many, haunted by personal problems, Maggie Fox lives in these pages with a curious majesty." -- Sallie Bingham, author of TRANSGRESSIONS "A fascinating, almost novelistic story, packed with well drawn characters. This account of the spiritualist movement in the U.S. during the 19th Century, under the influence of the Fox sisters, particularly that of Maggie Fox, is a treasure." -- Martin and Annette Meyers (AKA Maan Meyers)Authors of The Dutchman historicalmysteries |
The Reluctant Spiritualist:The Life of Maggie Fox
Here is the first authoritative biography of Maggie Fox, the world-famous medium and cofounder of the Spiritualism movement that swept America in the mid-1800s.
In 1848 fifteen-year old Maggie and her sister Katy created rapping sounds by manipulating their toe joints, practicing until they convinced their parents that their farmhouse was haunted. By 1853 more than thirty thousand mediums were at work with Maggie among the most famous. But when she denounced the faith in 1888, Spiritualism withered almost as quickly as it had bloomed. Through the memoirs of the Fox sisters, the letters of Maggie's Arctic explorer husband, contemporary newspaper accounts and other primary sources, Nancy Rubin Stuart creates a vibrant portrait of a Victorian-era womanat the heart of the controversies of her era. |
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