Customer Reviews

Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism

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Though the early accounts of the Fox sisters' encounters with spirits from beyond left me wanting more, as their renowned grew, so too did my interest. Weisberg does an amazing job of situating the rise of Spiritualism within the social climate of the time, touching upon evangelicalism, suffrage and abolition. I was not expecting to walk away from this book feeling that I'd gained a greater understanding of mid-century history, but I certaily did. As a New Yorker, Weisberg also made life in 1800s' New York come alive, for me, by her frequent inclusion of actual names and addresses.

Barbara Weisberg has created the first must-read nonfiction title of the year. This is an assured and satisfying work which vividly brings to life a remarkable episode in the cultural history of the United States. In March, 1848, mysterious knocks are suddenly heard in a small house located in rural, upstate New York. No one is certain who or what is creating the strange sounds, but they recur night after night. Are Kate and Maggie Fox, ages 11 and 14, playing an elaborate trick on their parents and the other members of their small community? Or are the girls really able to channel messages from the dead?
Talking to the Dead charts the saga of the Fox sisters, and the birth of modern Spiritualism. From a small house near the Canadian border Maggie and Kate are catapulted to nationwide fame. On a series of tours across the heartland, tens of thousands of Americans rush to experience a series of readings and seances.
Weisberg's straight-forward yet evocative prose fully engulfs the viewer in the period. Like Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, this is nonfiction so seamless and compelling that it reads like a novel, yet Weisberg's skills as a scrupulous and careful researcher are evident in the pages and pages of notes that conclude this riveting story. Or does it? For the story really has no definite conclusion, and the ramifications of the Fox sisters' experiences are still with us today. Perhaps they always will be. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I really liked this book. It is the first book I am aware of that discusses the Fox sisters, Maggie, Kate and Leah, as distinct, individual human beings instead of as some historical curiosity or side-show act. The personalities and the trajectories of the lives of each woman were distinct. Business, romance, family and religion entwined in their lives like they do in ours.
One thing I appreciated is that the author leaves it up to the reader to make a conclusion about the Fox Sister's mediumship. The truth, I think, is that all we can know of them is filtered through the perceptions of other, now distant, people. And while it is true that people who want to believe in the supernatural can "see what they want to see", what is often overlooked is that the same is true for people who do not want to believe.
The Fox Sisters had a major effect of American Culture in the 1800s. They should be remembered, and this book is a great contribution.

Although at first this book appears to deal with a somewhat esoteric topic, it has much appeal for the general reader. The fluid articulate prose probes the details of the Fox sisters' lives and their impact on spiritualism without burdensome discussion of that movement's inner workings. The focus remains on the sisters and, most interestingly, regularly throughout the text placing their story in the wider context of other significant events and ideas of their day. That it's written without a "point-of-view" on the sisters' authenticity helps this obviously well-researched work better illuminate their unusual lives and the times in which they lived.

This comprehensively researched biography of the Fox sisters, founders of modern spiritualism in America, not only provides details of their private lives but also explains the mores of the era in which they lived and how that affected them.
Conclusions about whether they were talented mediums, talented con artists or a little of both is left up to the reader. However, after reading the book, you will have the necessary facts to form your own opinion.
A fascinating and engrossing read.

Talking To The Dead is an excellent history of spiritualism and the Fox family. Kate and Maggie Fox (and older sister Leah) are mediums who converse with the dead. This started when they were young girls and progressed to the point where they were famous through the Americas and in Europe. They were wined and dined by nobility and common folk alike for many years. Everywhere they went they seemingly spread their powers among many others who met them and therefore they are credited with the creation of the Spiritualism movement (although it had started more quietly during an earlier period). This book is perfect for those interested in mediums, psychics, psychic phenomena and the rise of Spiritualism.

Man is apparently the only creature that realizes he will some day die and we have pondered since time immemorial the question of what happens after death. Many contend that nothing happens and we simply cease to exist but most people believe in some kind of life after death. This curiosity and yearning for knowledge is what made modern Spiritualism possible and Kate and Maggie Fox were its most successful early proponents. Barbara Weisberg has taken on the task of trying to make sense of this often-disorganized movement and has written an interesting but somewhat flat biography of these enigmatic sisters.

The whole story started in Hydesville, New York in 1848 when the Fox's neighbors became aware of the "spirit" rapping occurring in the Fox home. By various means, word of this phenomena spread across New York and soon the rest of the country. The Fox sisters, guided by their older sister Leah, soon became famous and were in great demand. Attempt after attempt was made to catch the girls in some fraud but they were never proven to be fakes. Over the years they held seances with the Russian Royal Family, James Fenimore Cooper, George Ripley, William Cullen Bryant, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Horace Greeley. One will note the presence of several abolitionist leaders in this group and the reform movements of the 1850s became closely associated with Spiritualism. Of course the civil war was a great boon for the movement as hundreds of thousands of untimely deaths led to like numbers of grieving families. One of the shortcomings of this book is that the effect of the war on Spiritualism is dealt with in such a backhanded manner that one hardly notices it.

As time went on, the Fox sisters went through some extraordinarily hard times and the author deals with this in great detail. Finally Maggie, with Kate's support renounces the spirits and claims it was all a fraud. Weisberg deals with this subject by giving it very little attention and then giving less attention to Maggie's later change of heart. She in fact spends far more time dealing with Maggie's great love than her renunciation of Spiritualism.

Weisberg has completed a great deal of research for this book and has certainly added to the study of this movement. She never captures the souls of her subjects however and the book seems to drag in several places. Being very interested in the subject and in ghostly phenomena in general I did enjoy this book but I was never completely absorbed by it. I don't know if it was the writing style or what I perceived as a lack of depth but I really feel that this book could have been much better. In short, if this subject fascinates you then you will enjoy this book and will learn from it. If, on the other hand, this subject is just of passing interest you may want to look elsewhere.

I very much enjoyed reading this book about a subject and a history I knew nothing about. I was attracted to read, and keep reading this story mainly for the 'intimate' histories of the people involved. I love reading historical details, no matter how small. The details seem to bring the people and time period alive again, and there is plenty of wonderful detail in this novel about the Fox Sisters and spiritualism in the mid/late 19th century.

I am very grateful to the author for exhuming this piece of history and bringing it to our attention by giving it such study. I was alittle disappointed at the book's conclusion though, which seemed 'rushed.' A lot less detail and a sense of urgency at the close of the story and the Sisters' lives. As soon as we come to know and feel close to Maggie and Kate, they're suddenly dead, and quickly buried. And, of course, it would have been nice to have more photos in the book.

The best thing that this author does in this book is to present the Fox Sisters' story in a way that leaves the reader both better educated and more able to understand why these women did what they did, and what 'most likely' was the complicated psycological motivation behind their actions. That's a lot to accomplish in storytelling. Bravo.

For anyone interested in finding out more about the love affair and complications between Elisha Kent Kane and Margaret Fox, there is more information on the Elisha Kent Kane Historical Society website. Lots of extra reading and more depth on the letters and events that occurred.

RECOMMEND!

The late 1840's brought a rebirth of spiritual and religious fervor to the United States. The young Fox sisters, recently moved to Hydesville, New York seem too young to have been touched. Kate, age 11 and Maggie, age 14 soon report strange knocks and raps throughout the house, alarming their mother. Soon neighbors are brought in to witness the strange goings on, the noises, furniture moving, and the sisters' abilities and motives are under question. The goings on are attributed to spirits of those gone before and the sisters enter the public eye.
"Talking to the Dead follows the two Fox sisters, along with their oldest sister Leah, as they become the darlings of the Spiritualist movement, courted by the rich and famous of their day to hold seances and to contact dear departed ones. It also examines the personal toll this all took on the sisters, the lack of a private life, the fluctuations of income, the many who depended on them for finances and support. The characters who take the women under their wings are almost bigger than life, and the sisters seem to become whatever those around them wish them to become. Throughout the 1800's the Foxes's were adored, feared and reviled. Ultimately, they would decry spiritualism,and claim they were pawns of an older, cunning sister and mother. Later they would retract their denial. This book is a bit dry, and it is hard to read about the movement without having a jaundiced, modern eye.
It is a fascinating study of family life during that time, and some of the strange forces brought to bear on it.

Best book on the Fox sisters i have read. Explores their relationship which is as interesting as the paranormal aspects of the story.