The Spiritualists [Hardcover]

Ruth Brandon (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 315 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (October 12, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394527402
• ISBN-13: 978-0394527406
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,491,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Worth Your Time., April 25, 2011

By 

OscarWildechild - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Science & the Paranormal Series) (Paperback)

I've been a fan of this book since I stumbled across it in high school. Ms. Brandon does a fantastic job demonstrating to, not leading, the reader through the modern history of the capial-M Medium; including the Mute Knockers, Channelers, Visioneers, and currently extinct Ectoplasmatics (all names reviewer's own) at a brisk pace, despite it's size. A large amount of this work happens to be the bibliography, with many references to both sides of the spiritualist debate (despite another reviewer's opinion). This is a great volume for anyone wanting to know more of Victorian/ Edwardian psychology, or interested in or unsure about psychic phenomena (as I was) and would like to see the forerunners of Sylvia Browne and John Edwards.
BONUS TIP: Most public libraries have at least one copy in the Spirituality section, so you can see if it's to your liking it for the low cost of just your tax dollars.

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I should have known, October 28, 2007

By 

L. Modderman "Loes Modderman" (Holland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Science & the Paranormal Series) (Paperback)

I failed to notice the publisher. Prometheus has only one objective: to descredit as much as possible of everything not fitting in their close-minded perspective. So I bought the book, hoping it would give me a historical perspective on Spiritualism. Which it promises. But doesn't. At all.
Mrs Brandon has made up her mind from the beginning. Being a buddy of Martin Gardner and James Randi, that is what can be expected.
Not that the book is not entertaining. It is. Obviously Mrs Brandon is a journalist, out to make fun. She is not a historian. She is not concerned in the least with truth. From the start she only mentions everything that fits in her rubbish-frame, and all the facts, proof, everything that might, just might, point in another direction, is left out. I'm not a spiritualist, but I would be ashamed of myself if I thought that all the people who REALLY did their jobs in investigating the phenomena of early spiritualism, were just gullible idiots. There was a lot of trickery and money making and falseness, but that doesn't explain away everything. Mrs Brandon fails to mention a lot. In terms of debunking she did a wonderful job. In terms of being honest, she failed. Miserably.
If you are looking for history, don't buy this book!