Looking for Carroll Beckwith: The True Story of a Detective's Search for His Past Life (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This tale is improbable in more ways than one: Indianapolis police homicide commander Snow offers a dryly nonplused account of his discovery of his "past life" as 19th-century portrait painter Carroll Beckwith. Snow participated in (and taped) a therapeutic "recovered memory" session as a lark, and, once hypnotized, was jolted by a series of clear images and recollections that seemed even then strangely plausible, despite his cop's hard-nosed, empirical perspective. Later, when he walked into a New Orleans gallery at random and confronted a painting that had appeared to him in his vision, he determined to put his detective's investigative skills to work and research congruencies between his "memories" and the artist's life. Surprisingly, the evidence that he painstakingly assembled through retrieving Beckwith's journals and work from obscurity seemed fully to confirm that Snow's "recollections" were authentic. Snow relates all this ruefully, hardly eager to be perceived as "New Age." His crisp, unpretentious prose and descriptive skill go a long way in convincing one to follow his unorthodox journey. His researched account of Beckwith's lost life is impressive: Snow is remarkably sensitive to aesthetic concerns and has unearthed the compelling tale of an artist who was forced to rely on portraiture for support, and whose fast fade seemed foreordained, even as friends like John Singer Sargent found fame. Snow has the courage of his convictions: though his detective wife urged him to curtail his quest to avoid career risk, his book is provocative. Illus. not seen by PW. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

A police commander relates the tale of how, under hypnosis, he discovered that he had a past life, describing his quest to discover the truth about Carroll Beckwith, the man he had been. 15,000 first printing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 186 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st Printing edition (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579541011
• ISBN-13: 978-1579541019
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,508 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #43 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Occult > Near-Death Experiences

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Credible reincarnation proof, December 28, 1999

By	Steve Sakellarios (U.S.) - See all my reviews

Because of the nature of the proof offered, and because of the credibility of the author, there are only two rational possibilities--either the author is making it up, or he has proven both reincarnation and the validity of hypnotic regression as a viable tool for affirming the existence of past lives. That he got the previous personality's wife's name incorrect, tends to support the researcher's credibility and thus, to my mind, strengthens the case. It is not unusual, in cases of verifying past-life regression, to get details like names wrong (see "Mission to Millboro" by Marge Rieder, for example)--nor for the basic facts to be accurate. So Capt. Snow's results are consistent with other verified cases in this regard. This book is a wake-up call for people who want to lightly dismiss both reincarnation and hypnotic regression as being entirely fanciful.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bomb sure to shake up non-believers, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

With the credentials of Indianapolis homicide Commander Snow's, it will be interesting to see how the anti-reincarnation ostriches can dismiss both his research and his findings...although the reaction of his wife indicates that a need to disbelieve can survive the most stunning facts. This book is more gripping than the best mystery story because its implications are true for both the reader and the author. It would have been interesting to know how the writer's philosophy of life might have been altered by his remarkable discoveries but Snow does effectively communicate his initial shock of discovery at this dimension of life previously unknown to him. He says he leaves its deeper meaning "to the philosophers and the theologians." Readers will share the chilling effect of his standing on his own grave and holding the handwritten journal of a previous self long gone. An unusual and convincing addition to the more than 500 titles Amazon says it offers on reincarnation.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing reserach is the word !!, January 13, 2001

By	Binay Shukla "Karmic journey" (Ruwi Oman) - See all my reviews

The length to which Police Captain Snow goes to prove himself wrong and then has to accept the truth is amazing. The book is not lacking in the detailed research. The style, is no nonsense and matter of fact. Highly recommended to all those interested in past lives. For those who are not, read it like a master detective story. I agree with a previous researcher that the author could have shared more about his relationship with the past and present wives. I wonder why his wife rejects her husband's evidence and research. Or maybe she's just trying to see if there is an alternate explanantion to all of the evidence gathered ? I read the book almost in one sitting. I too, do not think that the fact that the author did not get his first wife's name correct is important enough to doubt the author's story. In fact, it probably lends more credibility. The best thing I liked about the book is that Captain Snow does not readily accept any of the evidence but validates it thoroughly with police like reliable research methods. He has actually gone about trying to dismiss the results of regression therapy as not relating to past life but semms to have failed miserably in the end.

As this is claimed to be a true story, there will be people who will dismiss that as fiction. But, I do not think that any police officer will risk his reputation by coming out with a story like this, unless it were really true. Why would a police officer go through monumental amount of data about a not so famous painter and then use the information to write a book about his past life using the regression therapy as a starting point? Unfortunately, laboratory proof of reincarnation is not possible. This is as close as one can get. For further reading, I encourage those interested to read " 20 suggestive cases of reincarnation" and -"where Reincarnation and Biology intersect" by Dr Ian Stevenson.