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". . . Ann Braude still speaks powerfully to unique issues of women's creativity-spiritual as well as political-in a superb account of the controversial nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement." -Jon Butler
"Radical Spirits is a vitally important book . . . [that] has . . . influenced a generation of young scholars." -Marie Griffith
In Radical Spirits, Ann Braude contends that the early women's rights movement and Spiritualism went hand in hand. Her book makes a convincing argument for the importance of religion in the study of American women's history.
In this new edition, Braude discusses the impact of the book on the scholarship of the last decade and assesses the place of religion in interpretations of women's history in general and the women's rights movement in particular. A review of current scholarship and suggestions for further reading make it even more useful for contemporary teachers and students.
List of contents
Preliminary Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "Unbroken Communication between the Infinite and All Beings"
2. "The Blessedness of Sinless Childhood in the World Beyond"
3. "Thine for Agitation"
4. The Meaning of Mediumship
5. "The Body and Soul Destroying Marriage Institution"
6. Mediums versus Medical men
7. "No Organization Can Hold Me"
Conclusion
Abbreviations
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Ann Braude teaches at the Harvard Divinity School and is co-editor of Roots of Bitterness: Documents in the Social History of American Women.
Summary
An updated edition of a landmark book in the history of women's political activism and in the history of women and religion in America.
