Lone Star Séance

A History of Texas Spiritualism

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

317 kr

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Beskrivning

In the mid-nineteenth century, a strange new fire swept across the American landscape. It was Spiritualism: the radical belief that the living could—and should—commune with the dead. While historians have long looked to the North for the heart of this movement, John Benedict Buescher reveals a darker, wilder, and distinctly Texan story.Lone Star Séance is a journey into the borderlands of belief, where parlor tables rattled in the same rooms in which pistols were drawn. From the invisible counsel pursued by Sam Houston and Anson Jones to the mystical visions of Quanah Parker and Francisco Madero, Buescher brings the shadows of the Lone Star State into the light.It is a saga of independent minds rejecting religious dogma to become their own prophets and the tragicomic backlash that followed. Part occult history, part frontier Western, this is the story of a "cultural infection" that became a Texas obsession. Forget the Alamo for a moment—and remember the séance.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-09-29
Mått:152 x 229 x undefined mm
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:416
Förlag:Texas A & M University Press
ISBN:9781682833179

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John Benedict Buescher is an academic scholar of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American religious history. Although not a Spiritualist, he is currently a co-director of the International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals (IAPSOP). He moved from Virginia to Texas in 2018 and has since focused his research on offbeat elements of Texas history, including the border radio stations along the Rio Grande, detailed in his 2021 book Radio Psychics. He has taught at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and has worked at the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Voice of America.

Innehållsförteckning

IllustrationsPrefaceChapter 1: The Science of the DisembodiedChapter 2: The True EvangelistChapter 3: Annihilate Space and TimeChapter 4: Plagiarizing PhantasmsChapter 5: A Vision of UtopiaChapter 6: Spirits in BondageChapter 7: Bam & BoozleChapter 8: Spiritual CarpetbaggersChapter 9: Mission TerritoryChapter 10: Rallying ForcesChapter 11: Spirits in ConventionChapter 12: SpookedChapter 13: New MovementChapter 14: An Angel Who FellChapter 15: Guns and GhostsChapter 16: Wings Over WacoChapter 17: Camp MeetingsChapter 18: Great Caesar's GhostChapter 19: The Uncertain Road to Port ArthurChapter 20: Oh Texas, Land of Promise!Chapter 21: Spirits by Any Other NameChapter 22: After the FloodChapter 23: Controversies in CowtownChapter 24: We Don't Talk About KardecChapter 25: Two CulturesChapter 26: Seating Sections for White PeopleChapter 27: Mystery Repeats ItselfChapter 28: A Powwow of SpiritsChapter 29: The Religion of the FutureAcknowledgmentsNotesFor Further ReadingIndex