Nancy Rubin Stuart
|
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. |
"A new biography… illuminates startling similarities between our present political landscape and that of our founding fathers and mothers." --Cape Cod Times, October 26, 2008 "This wonderfully researched and readable book has done an excellent job of giving another view of what it took to make this country. Essential for academic and public libraries. Enjoy!" -- Library Journal, May 1, 2008 “This commendable biography follows the life of New England patriot Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814), the celebrated—and sometimes reviled—writer of poems, plays, history and satire... Warren emerges as a fully fleshed-out woman with literary insecurities, intractable opinions and a high-strung temper as well as deep affection for her husband and sons. Stuart includes fascinating period details, focusing primarily on Warren's home-front experiences of rampant inflation, scarcity of goods, high taxes and profiteering during the Revolution as well as typical 18th-century illnesses and family anxieties. Most poignantly, Stuart depicts Warren's loneliness and despair after the deaths of three of her five sons. This account is valuable as an eyewitness play-by-play of the American Revolution and will be a great resource to scholars of women's and literary history." --Publisher's Weekly, May 5, 2008 "Concise and readable... focuses on a founding mother who wrote in part because that was the one way a woman could contribute to the Revolution... there's plenty in Stuart's pages for those interested in the drama of the woman writer in Western culture." -- Boston Globe, June 29, 2008 "This dramatic biography makes it clear that future President Adams relied extensively upon advice from his wife, Abigail, as well as upon the guidance of Mercy Otis Warren...As Stuart demonstrates , Warren was a woman of independent hopes and dreams who believed strongly that she could express important ideas to the new American republic with her writing. Thankfully, she was right." --American Spirit, The Magazine of the Daughters of the American Revolution, July /August 2008 "Incredible source data, smooth narratives built around chapters, fragmented around specific moments, and intricate use of historical detail and setting...Stuart breathes new life into an early American poet and historian too often left out of historical discussion." -- Metro Spirit, Augusta, Georgia, July 2, 2008 "Nancy Rubin Stuart, the author of several popular biographies, presents Warren in a colorfully anecdotal style. Given the difficulty of reconstructing warren's life, Stuart has artfully set the story in the context of the Revolution and relied upon her subject's friendships, especially with the Admses. The pace is brisk, if not jaunty... As a lively introduction to the great Mercy Otis Warren, this book is appealing." -- Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2008 Other Recent Books by the AuthorBiography“Fascinating biography...The great strength of Stuart's book is that she provides the necessary historical context...convincingly places the Fox sisters at a nexus of social and political change...offers fresh insight into the bored young girl with the toes heard round the world.” -- Washington Post "Stuart has created a richly sympathetic portrait of a fascinating and tragic woman, trapped by her family, her times, and her own aching heart, a woman who...didn't have the mettle or the means to make her own way, but was swept along in the era's spiritualism fever." --Boston Globe “This life story opens an illuminating window on an era and a movement. --Booklist, American Library Association "Diligently researched biography of the young woman responsible in the mid-1800s for the growth of spiritualism...Stuart capably chronicles this period of reliigous ferment...vividly details the course of ( Maggie's)ill-starred romance...a persuasive study of an unusual life." --Kirkus Reviews "The Reluctant Spiritualist is certainly a not-to-be missed biography of a fascinating personality. But it is much more… the enigmatic history of a curious but important period in the spiritual history of America. --Nimble Spirit Reviews "Fast-paced..highly readable and entertaining." -- Publishers Weekly Biography
"This entrancing biography is full of high drama,gossip, scandal, and international political intrigue." -- Publisher's Weekly "An artful, sensitive biography… A prerequisite for understanding Isabella is understanding the period and Rubin excels at delineating both." --Booklist |
