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The Apparitionists

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The Apparitionists

A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost
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Hardback
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Description

An NPR Best Book of 2017 "A rare work of historical nonfiction that is both studious and just plain entertaining."--Publishers Weekly, Top Ten Books of 2017 "An exceptional story"--Errol Morris, New York Times Book Review A story of faith and fraud in post-Civil War America, told through the lens of a photographer who claimed he could capture images of the dead In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America's imagination. A "spirit photographer," William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation: The affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln, who arrived at his studio in disguise amidst rumors of seances in the White House. Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. It took a circus-like trial of Mumler on fraud charges, starring P. T. Barnum for the prosecution, to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation. And even then, the judge sided with the defense--nobody ever solved the mystery of his spirit photography. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while clinging desperately to belief.

Author Biography

PETER MANSEAU is the author of the nonfiction books Vows, Rag and Bone, and One Nation, Under Gods; and the novel Songs for the Butcher's Daughter, a winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He is the first curator of religion at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland.
Release date Australia
October 10th, 2017
Author
Audience
  • General (US: Trade)
Country of Publication
United States
Illustrations
Illustrations, unspecified
Imprint
Houghton Mifflin
Pages
352
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin
Dimensions
140x211x41
ISBN-13
9780544745971
Product ID
25745477

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