- Hardcover: 290 pages
- Publisher: Bantam (8 Sep 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553806750
- ISBN-13: 978-0553806755
- Product Dimensions: 14.6 x 2.6 x 21.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,101,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln—who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still-young nation and, through it, much of the Western world.
Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history.
From the meaning of the symbols on the one-dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board, Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes, including:
•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776
•The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith
•The rural Sunday-school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age
•The prominence of mind-power mysticism in the black-nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey
•The Idaho druggist whose mail-order mystical religion ranked as the eighth-largest faith in the world during the Great Depression
Here, too, are America’s homegrown religious movements, from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive-thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today. A feast for believers in alternative spirituality, an eye-opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history, Occult America is an engaging, long-overdue portrait of one nation, under many gods, whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the globe.
Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history.
From the meaning of the symbols on the one-dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board, Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes, including:
•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776
•The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith
•The rural Sunday-school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age
•The prominence of mind-power mysticism in the black-nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey
•The Idaho druggist whose mail-order mystical religion ranked as the eighth-largest faith in the world during the Great Depression
Here, too, are America’s homegrown religious movements, from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive-thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today. A feast for believers in alternative spirituality, an eye-opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history, Occult America is an engaging, long-overdue portrait of one nation, under many gods, whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the globe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very smooth and professional transaction!,
By ferdinando buscema (Milano, Italy) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Occult America: White House Seances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret Mystic History of Our Nation (Paperback)
I'm very happy and satisfied with this seller and transaction! Great job!! Thank you and regards!Ferdinando (Italy)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews) 39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A tour through the byways of American religious history,
By Kenneth Johnson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Hardcover)
Mitch Horowitz rescues many colorful characters from obscurity in this entertaining tour through the byways of American religious history. My favorite sections of the book were those describing individuals whose teachings flourished in the early twentieth century but are almost forgotten today. Psychiana was a successful mail-order religion that did not long survive the death of its founder Frank Robinson. Baird Spaulding concocted tall tales about encounters with Oriental spiritual Masters in books that were widely read in the 1930s and 40s. The Moorish Science Temple is a fascinating amalgamation of occult doctrines with black nationalism, whose founder Noble Drew Ali has been little studied by historians. Manly P. Hall authored an occult classic, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, in his twenties and led an organization that epitomized southern California eclecticism through most of the twentieth century. Benjamin Williams popularized astrology and Tarot under his pen name C.C. Zain, but like Hall was famous mainly in the Los Angeles area. All these individuals are given their place in the American religious landscape as pioneers of a movement Horowitz calls occultism or "the occult" which he concludes "resulted in a vast reworking of arcane practices and beliefs from the Old World and the creation of a new spiritual culture." The obscure characters are placed into historical context with exploration of occult ideas in better known movements like Mormonism and New Thought, which contributed to a new spiritual culture. Familiar but little-understood topics like Hoodoo and the history of the Ouija board are illuminated in new ways by Horowitz's groundbreaking research.While amusing and entertaining, Occult America is grounded in years of scholarship and depicts its subjects with a mixture of respect and detachment that might be called "sympathetic objectivity." The final chapter about Edgar Cayce is the most thoughtful, balanced account of the "sleeping prophet" seen in years, appreciative without being credulous. On Theosophy, Horowitz is well-informed and wise, recognizing its contribution to religious pluralism along with its penchant for fantastic claims and scandal. Andrew Jackson Davis was far more the founder of Spiritualism than the Fox sisters, and Horowitz gives him the attention he deserves as an American original. Having written on those subjects I can endorse the author's scholarship as thorough and his commentary as insightful; in areas less familiar to me the book gives every indication of consistent reliability. I have been reading books on what might be called "occult history" for thirty years, and cannot recall one that is more enjoyable to read, or more informative about a diverse cast of characters, than Occult America. 22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hidden History,
By Ray Grasse - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Hardcover)
This is a fascinating and long overdue look at a largely ignored side of American history. This is must-reading not just for history buffs and students of esotericism, but for anyone wanting to better understand the roots of the American character, since it's all-too-easily overlooked how profoundly these mystical undercurrents have shaped this nation's values, politics, and dreams. I knew a fair amount this topic before going in, but he's managed to unearth some facts and characters even I knew nothing about.I notice some of the other reviews here mentioning what this book leaves out, but as an editor and writer myself, I can't agree with that. By focusing on the key characters and episodes that he does, Horowitz gives us a concise overview of a very complex subject, leaving the reader to pursue its many leads if they so choose--and in so doing will certainly reach a far wider audience than otherwise, in the respectable tradition of writers like Stephen Jay Gould. He's managed to take a potentially dry subject and make it extremely accessible--and that's no small feat. Kudos. 21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly Recommended - both entertaining and a crucial historical record,
By Greg Kaminsky "rochester92" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Hardcover)
Mitch Horowitz, as editor-in-chief at Tarcher/Penguin has brought forth many excellent volumes of esoteric and New Age books. The same depth of understanding of his material and outstanding research also contributes to this important historical account that he has delivered in "Occult America." In my opinion, this book is important because it ties together much of the esoteric history of the U.S. from a journalistic perspective, in a very readable manner. Horowitz knows his subject intellectually, historically, and as one who has cultivated the promotion of these ideas as his life work. His passion for, and depth of understanding of, his subject is obvious throughout this book. I found "Occult America" to be extremely interesting and entertaining, providing a view of the people and ideas that shaped the religious and philosophical life of the country, including Paul Foster Case, Manly Hall, Henry Steel Olcott, Ernest Holmes, Edgar Cayce, Joseph Smith, Henry A. Wallace, Frederick Douglass, Mary Baker Eddy, and the list goes on.Among the profiles of religious seekers, prophets, teachers, and often colorful individuals, one important point Horowitz makes is that some of these "New Age" beliefs have become widely-accepted, including: "1. Belief in the therapeutic value of spiritual or religious ideas. 2. Belief in a mind-body connection in health. 3. Belief that human consciousness is evolving to higher stages. 4. Belief that thoughts, in some greater or lesser measure, determine reality. 5. Belief that spiritual understanding is available without allegiance to a specific religion or doctrine." Another important point made by Horowitz is that new thought has been openly promoted in this country since the very beginning as the land of religious freedom and experimentation. Much of this fascinating history and its tremendous impact has been overlooked, ignored, and in some cases, maybe suppressed. As part of the historical record, none of it should not be pushed under the rug. Thankfully, Horowitz has reminded us all about the diverse and esoteric spiritual heritage of this country, treating the subject with scholarship and respect. Mitch Horowitz's podcast interviews are a wonderful introduction to the subjects in "Occult America" for anyone who is still on the fence about reading it. |
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